Reliably estimating the effect of toxicants on fertilization success in marine broadcast spawners.
Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of ecotoxicological studies examining the effects of toxicants on fertilization success in marine broadcast spawners and it appears that this life-history stage is one of the most vulnerable to toxicants. Most of the studies examining this issue use single sperm concentrations in their assays. Here, I discuss recent advances in fertilization ecology that suggest this technique has some severe limitations resulting in unreliable estimations of the size and direction of toxicant effects. I present an alternative assay technique and two metrics (F(max) and [Sperm](max)) that will reliably estimate the size of a toxicant's effect on fertilization success. This technique has the added advantage of making comparisons among species and studies easier without an impractical increase in effort.
Marshall
Dustin J
DJ
School of Integrative Biology/Centre for Marine Studies, University of Queensland, 4072 Queensland, Australia. d.marshall1@uq.edu.au <d.marshall1@uq.edu.au>
D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000187:drug effects*; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000633:toxicity*; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008386:Marine Biology / Q000379:methods; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012623:Seawater; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000662:veterinary*
D015386:Hazardous Substances