title: Temporal changes in the sensitivity of coastal Antarctic zooplankton communities to diesel fuel: a comparison between single- and multi-species toxicity tests.
abstract: Despite increasing human activity and risk of fuel spills in Antarctica, little is known about the impact of fuel on Antarctic marine fauna. The authors performed both single- and multi-species (whole community) acute toxicity tests to assess the sensitivity of an Antarctic coastal zooplankton community to the water-accommodated fraction of Special Antarctic Blend diesel. Single-species tests using abundant copepods Oncaea curvata, Oithona similis, and Stephos longipes allowed comparisons of sensitivity of key taxa and of sensitivity estimates obtained from traditional single-species and more novel multi-species tests. Special Antarctic Blend diesel caused significant mortality and species compositional change in the zooplankton community within 4 d to 7 d. The sensitivity of the community also increased across the summer sampling period, with decreasing 7-d median lethal concentration (LC50) values for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH): 1091 µg TPH/L in early January 2011, 353 µg TPH/L in mid January 2011, and 186 µg TPH/L in early February 2011. Copepods showed similar sensitivities to Special Antarctic Blend diesel in single-species tests (7-d LC50s: O. curvata, 158 µg TPH/L; O. similis, 176 µg TPH/L; S. longipes, 188 µg TPH/L). The combined use of single- and multi-species toxicity tests is a holistic approach to assessing the sensitivity of key species and the interactions and interdependence between species, enabling a broader understanding of the effects of fuel exposure on the whole zooplankton community.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Science, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.forename: Catherine K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Lara Marcus
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Zamora
authors.forename: Patti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Virtue
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D044822:Biodiversity; D033342:Copepoda / Q000187:drug effects*; D005742:Gasoline / Q000633:toxicity*; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000633:toxicity*; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D011156:Population Density; D018675:Toxicity Tests; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*; D015048:Zooplankton / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D005742:Gasoline; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Copepod; Hydrocarbon; Invertebrate toxicity; Oil spill; Water-accommodated fraction