Postexposure effects of DDE and butylbenzylphthalate on feeding behavior in threespine stickleback.
In a laboratory experiment we documented effects of sublethal concentrations of p,p'-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethylene (DDE) and butylbenzylphthalate (BBP) on feeding behavior in threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus. The fish were exposed for 31 days to either BBP (10 or 100 microg/L) or DDE (5 or 50 microg/L) or to a mixture of BBP and DDE in the corresponding concentrations. Five weeks after exposure termination, we showed that fish that had been exposed to the higher concentrations of DDE and/or BBP initiated feeding more often than control fish. The latency time to feeding (ranging from 0.25 to 5.0 min) differed between control fish and fish exposed to mixtures of DDE and BBP. This experiment shows that feeding behavior may be used as a suitable behavioral variable in the detection of effects of pollutants even long time after the termination of exposure.
Wibe
Asa Espmark
AE
Department of Zoology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. asa.wibe@akvaforsk.nlh.no
Fjeld
Eirik
E
Rosenqvist
Gunilla
G
Jenssen
Bjørn Munro
BM
D000818:Animals; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene / Q000633:toxicity*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D005399:Fishes; D007306:Insecticides / Q000633:toxicity*; D010795:Phthalic Acids / Q000633:toxicity*; D013723:Teratogens / Q000633:toxicity*
D007306:Insecticides; D010795:Phthalic Acids; D013723:Teratogens; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene; C027561:butylbenzyl phthalate