title: Age differential response of Hyalella curvispina to a cadmium pulse: influence of sediment particle size.
abstract: In Argentina periurban streams frequently receive agricultural, livestock and industrial discharges. Heavy metals have been found in the water column and sediments of numerous water bodies of the pampean region, at levels above the limits established for aquatic life protection. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a contaminant pulse of cadmium discharged into a water-sediment system of different particle sizes, by means of laboratory tests using juveniles and adults of Hyalella curvispina, a native amphipod. We found that the substrate particle size was a determining factor in the toxicity of cadmium and that the adults of H. curvispina were more sensitive than juveniles. We also observed a temporal difference between the two ages for the same type of sediment. Given the nature of the sediments of regional water bodies, it is expected that a discharge of cadmium, even at concentrations as low as those tested here, will affect the survival of native amphipods.
authors.affiliation: Aquatic Ecology Program, Basic Sciences Department, - National University of Luján (UNLu), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodrígues Capítulo
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrari
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000383:Agriculture; D033304:Amphipoda / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002104:Cadmium