Food quality effects on copepod growth and development: implications for bioassays in ecotoxicological testing.
We evaluated effects of six algal species in 25 combinations on growth and reproduction of the harpacticoid copepod Nitocra spinipes. In the first lifecycle test, Rhodomonas salina, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and Dunaliella tertiolecta were used. The results showed that R. salina was the best food, whereas P. tricornutum (0% development success) and D. tertiolecta (41.7% malformations) were poor food items. In the second lifecycle test, a mixture of R. salina, Tetraselmis suecica, and Thalassiosira weisflogii (selected from screening tests) was tested together with a mono-diet of R. salina. Also in this test, copepods fed R. salina performed better (i.e. had higher survival and reproductive success) compared with the other treatment. We conclude that R. salina is appropriate to use as food in toxicity testing with N. spinipes, whereas some of the algae commonly used as feed in ecotoxicological tests with other copepods had detrimental effects on the development, reproduction, and survival of N. spinipes.
Department of Applied Environmental Science (ITM), Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. ulrika.dahl@itm.su.se
Ulrika
U
Dahl
Charlotta Rubio
CR
Lind
Elena
E
Gorokhova
Britta
B
Eklund
Magnus
M
Breitholtz
D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods*; D033342:Copepoda / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D054750:Ecotoxicology / Q000379:methods*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D056890:Eukaryota; D005502:Food; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D015996:Survival Rate; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical