Toxicant Responses and Culturing Characteristics of Long-Term Laboratory-Reared and Field Populations of Ceriodaphnia dubia

Ceriodaphnia dubia is a standardized test organism for regulatory toxicity testing of surface waters and commercial chemicals because of its simplicity to culture and responsiveness to toxicants. For testing convenience, C. dubia is often cultured for extended periods in the laboratory with little knowledge of the impact on subsequent generations. Extended laboratory rearing could impact how they respond to stressors and decrease the accuracy of test results. The present study investigated if C. dubia cultured for an extended period were representative of three recently collected field populations by comparing their culturing characteristics and sensitivities to toxicants. For culturing characteristics, the field cultures were more challenging because they had shorter body lengths, fewer neonates, and higher mortality rates than the laboratory culture. Comparative chronic toxicity tests with sodium chloride and the neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam indicated that the laboratory and field organisms did not differ much in their toxicological responses but did differ in the variability of responses (percentage of coefficient of variation). The differences between the laboratory and field cultures found in the present study highlight the challenges of addressing discrepancies between laboratory and field applications in existing standardized methodologies. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:159-169. © 2023 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

Daphnia as a model organism to probe biological responses to nanomaterials-from individual to population effects via adverse outcome pathways

The importance of the cladoceran Daphnia as a model organism for ecotoxicity testing has been well-established since the 1980s. Daphnia have been increasingly used in standardised testing of chemicals as they are well characterised and show sensitivity to pollutants, making them an essential indicator species for environmental stress. The mapping of the genomes of D. pulex in 2012 and D. magna in 2017 further consolidated their utility for ecotoxicity testing, including demonstrating the responsiveness of the Daphnia genome to environmental stressors. The short lifecycle and parthenogenetic reproduction make Daphnia useful for assessment of developmental toxicity and adaption to stress. The emergence of nanomaterials (NMs) and their safety assessment has introduced some challenges to the use of standard toxicity tests which were developed for soluble chemicals. NMs have enormous reactive surface areas resulting in dynamic interactions with dissolved organic carbon, proteins and other biomolecules in their surroundings leading to a myriad of physical, chemical, biological, and macromolecular transformations of the NMs and thus changes in their bioavailability to, and impacts on, daphnids. However, NM safety assessments are also driving innovations in our approaches to toxicity testing, for both chemicals and other emerging contaminants such as microplastics (MPs). These advances include establishing more realistic environmental exposures via medium composition tuning including pre-conditioning by the organisms to provide relevant biomolecules as background, development of microfluidics approaches to mimic environmental flow conditions typical in streams, utilisation of field daphnids cultured in the lab to assess adaption and impacts of pre-exposure to pollution gradients, and of course development of mechanistic insights to connect the first encounter with NMs or MPs to an adverse outcome, via the key events in an adverse outcome pathway. Insights into these developments are presented below to inspire further advances and utilisation of these important organisms as part of an overall environmental risk assessment of NMs and MPs impacts, including in mixture exposure scenarios.

Acquiring an evolutionary perspective in marine ecotoxicology to tackle emerging concerns in a rapidly changing ocean

Tens of thousands of anthropogenic chemicals and wastes enter the marine environment each year as a consequence of the ever-increasing anthropogenic activities and demographic growth of the human population, which is majorly concentrated along coastal areas. Marine ecotoxicology has had a crucial role in helping shed light on the fate of chemicals in the environment, and improving our understanding of how they can affect natural ecosystems. However, chemical contamination is not occurring in isolation, but rather against a rapidly changing environmental horizon. Most environmental studies have been focusing on short-term within-generation responses of single life stages of single species to single stressors. As a consequence, one-dimensional ecotoxicology cannot enable us to appreciate the degree and magnitude of future impacts of chemicals on marine ecosystems. Current approaches that lack an evolutionary perspective within the context of ongoing and future local and global stressors will likely lead us to under or over estimations of the impacts that chemicals will exert on marine organisms. It is therefore urgent to define whether marine organisms can acclimate, i.e. adjust their phenotypes through transgenerational plasticity, or rapidly adapt, i.e. realign the population phenotypic performances to maximize fitness, to the new chemical environment within a selective horizon defined by global changes. To foster a significant advancement in this research area, we review briefly the history of ecotoxicology, synthesis our current understanding of the fate and impact of contaminants under global changes, and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of integrative approaches toward developing an evolutionary perspective in marine ecotoxicology: particularly through a multigenerational approach. The inclusion of multigenerational studies in Ecological Risk Assessment framework (ERA) would provide significant and more accurately information to help predict the risks of pollution in a rapidly changing ocean.

Long-term laboratory culture causes contrasting shifts in tolerance to two marine pollutants in copepods of the genus Tigriopus

Organismal chemical tolerance is often used to assess ecological risk and monitor water quality, yet tolerance can differ between field- and lab-raised organisms. In this study, we examined how tolerance to copper (Cu) and tributyltin oxide (TBTO) in two species of marine copepods, Tigriopus japonicus and T. californicus, changed across generations under benign laboratory culture (in the absence of pre-exposure to chemicals). Both copepod species exhibited similar chemical-specific changes in tolerance, with laboratory maintenance resulting in increased Cu tolerance and decreased TBTO tolerance. To assess potential factors underlying these patterns, chemical tolerance was measured in conjunction with candidate environmental variables (temperature, UV radiation, diet type, and starvation). The largest chemical-specific effect was found for starvation, which decreased TBTO tolerance but had no effect on Cu tolerance. Understanding how chemical-specific tolerance can change in the laboratory will be critical in strengthening bioassays and their applications for environmental protection and chemical management.

Validation of a two-generational reproduction test in Daphnia magna: An interlaboratory exercise

Effects observed within one generation disregard potential detrimental effects that may appear across generations. Previously we have developed a two generation Daphnia magna reproduction test using the OECD TG 211 protocol with a few amendments, including initiating the second generation with third brood neonates produced from first generation individuals. Here we showed the results of an inter-laboratory calibration exercise among 12 partners that aimed to test the robustness and consistency of a two generation Daphnia magna reproduction test. Pyperonyl butoxide (PBO) was used as a test compound. Following experiments, PBO residues were determined by TQD-LC/MS/MS. Chemical analysis denoted minor deviations of measured PBO concentrations in freshly prepared and old test solutions and between real and nominal concentrations in all labs. Other test conditions (water, food, D. magna clone, type of test vessel) varied across partners as allowed in the OECD test guidelines. Cumulative fecundity and intrinsic population growth rates (r) were used to estimate "No observed effect concentrations "NOEC using the solvent control as the control treatment. EC₁₀ and EC-₅₀ values were obtained regression analyses. Eleven of the twelve labs succeeded in meeting the OECD criteria of producing >60 offspring per female in control treatments during 21days in each of the two consecutive generations. Analysis of variance partitioning of cumulative fecundity indicated a relatively good performance of most labs with most of the variance accounted for by PBO (56.4%) and PBO by interlaboratory interactions (20.2%), with multigenerational effects within and across PBO concentrations explaining about 6% of the variance. EC₅₀ values for reproduction and population growth rates were on average 16.6 and 20.8% lower among second generation individuals, respectively. In summary these results suggest that the proposed assay is reproducible but cumulative toxicity in the second generation cannot reliably be detected with this assay.

Effects of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis on nonstandard microcrustacean species isolated from field zooplankton communities

The toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis on zooplanktonic microcrustaceans was evaluated using individuals collected in coastal wetlands where this larvicide has been used for mosquito control over the last decades. We tested five zooplankton species that coexist with mosquito larvae: two copepods (both nauplii and adults of Tropocyclops prasinus and Acantocyclops americanus), and three cladocerans (Ceriodaphnia reticulata, Chydorus sphaericus, and Daphnia cf. pulex). Our experiments included seven replicates of six concentrations (Bti Vectobac12AS 1200 Bti ITU/mg): 0, 5, 25, 50, 250, and 500 mg L^-1. We analyzed acute and sub-chronic effects after a single inoculation. Despite the high variability of responses among our tested organisms, we found a general pattern of increasing mortality with concentration and time. We conclude that negative effects at the community level are not unlikely as some species were affected at doses close to those used in field applications.

Two-generational effects of contaminants in Daphnia magna: Effects of offspring quality

The authors set up a protocol to perform a 2-generational ring test using the existing guidelines for the Daphnia magna reproduction test. It is well known in ecology that size and quality of offspring vary across the first clutches in D. magna and that certain chemicals affect offspring quality. Therefore, the origin of the second generation is an important factor to consider. Two-generational effects across first, second, and third clutches were evaluated using 4-nonylphenol; those across first and third clutches were evaluated using tributyltin, and those across the third clutch were evaluated using piperonyl butoxide. The compound showing the greatest aggravation of toxic effects between the parental and second generations was piperonyl butoxide, followed by 4-nonylphenol, whereas intergenerational effects of tributyltin varied across experiments. The studied chemicals affected the quantity and quality of the offspring produced by exposed females of the parental generation, those effects being greater in third-clutch neonates. Therefore, when third-clutch offspring were further exposed, they turned out to be more sensitive than the parental generation. The results are in line with those obtained in multigenerational studies using mammalian tests, which showed that, in many cases, effects on the second generation can be predicted by evaluating the quality of the offspring produced. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:1470-1477. © 2015 SETAC.

Induction of multixenobiotic defense mechanisms in resistant Daphnia magna clones as a general cellular response to stress

Multixenobiotic resistance mechanisms (MXR) were recently identified in Daphnia magna. Previous results characterized gene transcripts of genes encoding and efflux activities of four putative ABCB1 and ABCC transporters that were chemically induced but showed low specificity against model transporter substrates and inhibitors, thus preventing us from distinguishing between activities of different efflux transporter types. In this study we report on the specificity of induction of ABC transporters and of the stress protein hsp70 in clones selected to be genetically resistant to ABCB1 chemical substrates. Clones resistant to mitoxantrone, ivermectin and pentachlorophenol showed distinctive transcriptional responses of transporter protein coding genes and of putative transporter dye activities. Expression of hsp70 proteins also varied across resistant clones. Clones resistant to mitoxantrone and pentachlorophenol showed high constitutive levels of hsp70. Transcriptional levels of the abcb1 gene transporter and of putative dye transporter activity were also induced to a greater extent in the pentachlorophenol resistant clone. Observed higher dye transporter activities in individuals from clones resistant to mitoxantrone and ivermectin were unrelated with transcriptional levels of the studied four abcc and abcb1 transporter genes. These findings suggest that Abcb1 induction in D. magna may be a part of a general cellular stress response.

Comparative sensitivity of field and laboratory populations of Hyalella azteca to the pyrethroid insecticides bifenthrin and cypermethrin

Hyalella azteca are epibenthic invertebrates that are widely used for toxicity studies. They are reported to be more sensitive to pyrethroid insecticides than most other test species, which has prompted considerable use of this species in toxicity testing of ambient surface waters where the presence of pyrethroids is suspected. However, resident H. azteca have been found in some ambient water bodies reported to contain surface water and/or sediment pyrethroid concentrations that are toxic to laboratory reared H. azteca. This observation suggests differences in the sensitivities of laboratory reared and field populations of H. azteca to pyrethroids. The goal of the present study was to determine the sensitivities of laboratory reared and field populations of H. azteca to the pyrethroids bifenthrin and cypermethrin. Specimens of H. azteca were collected from resident populations at field sites that are subject to varied land-use activities as well as from laboratory populations. These organisms were exposed to bifenthrin- or cypermethrin-spiked water in 96-h water-only toxicity tests. The resulting data demonstrated that: 1) field-collected populations in urban and agricultural settings can be >2 orders of magnitude less sensitive to the pyrethroids than laboratory reared organisms; 2) field-collected organisms varied in their sensitivity (possibly based on land-use activities), with organisms collected from undeveloped sites exhibiting sensitivities similar to laboratory reared organisms; and 3) the sensitivity of field-collected "tolerant" organisms increased in subsequent generations reared under laboratory conditions. Potential mechanisms for these differences are discussed.

Rapid Adaptation of a Daphnia magna Population to Metal Stress Is Associated with Heterozygote Excess

Although natural populations can harbor evolutionary potential to adapt genetically to chemical stress, it is often thought that natural selection leads to a general reduction of genetic diversity and involves costs. Here, a 10 week microevolution experiment was conducted with a genetically diverse and representative sample of one natural Daphnia magna population that was exposed to copper and zinc. Both Cu- and Zn-selected populations developed a significantly higher metal tolerance (i.e., genetic adaptation), indicated by higher reproduction probabilities of clonal lines in Cu and Zn exposures than observed for the original and control populations. The complete recovery of the population densities after 10 weeks of Zn selection (following an initial decrease of 74%) illustrates an example of evolutionary rescue. Microsatellite genotyping revealed a decrease in clonal diversity but no change in allelic richness, and showed an excess in heterozygosity in the Cu- and Zn-selected populations compared to the control and original populations. The excess heterozygosity in metal-selected populations that we observed has important consequences for risk assessment, as it contributes to the maintenance of a higher allelic diversity under multigenerational chemical exposure. This study is, to our knowledge, the first report of an increase in heterozygosity following multigenerational exposure to metal stress, despite a decline in clonal diversity. In a follow-up study with the Zn-selected populations, we observed no effect of Zn selection on the tolerance to heat and cyanobacteria. However, we observed higher tolerance to Cd in the Zn-selected than in the original and control populations if the 20% effective concentration of Cd was considered (cross-tolerance). Our results suggest only limited costs of adaptation but future research is needed to evaluate the adaptive potential of metal-selected populations to novel stressors and to determine to what extent increased heterozygosity is preserved after genetic recombination following periods of sexual reproduction.

Living on the edge: populations of two zooplankton species living closer to agricultural fields are more resistant to a common insecticide

Ecological communities across the globe are exposed to diverse natural and anthropogenic stressors and disturbances that can lead to community-wide impacts. Contaminants are a group of anthropogenic disturbances that are ubiquitous in the environment and can trigger trophic cascades, increased susceptibility to pathogens, reduced biodiversity, and altered ecosystems. In these ecosystems, substantial attention has been given to evolved resistance in targeted pest species, but little attention has been given to the evolution of resistance in nontarget species in nature. For the present study, the authors used laboratory toxicity tests to determine if 2 common, co-occurring species of freshwater zooplankton (Simocephalus vetulus and Daphnia pulex) showed population-level variation in sensitivity to a common insecticide (chlorpyrifos). For both species, it was found that populations living near agricultural fields--a proxy for pesticide use--were more resistant to chlorpyrifos than populations collected from ponds far from agriculture. This finding is consistent with the evolution of resistance to pesticides. To the authors' knowledge, only 1 previous study (using Daphnia magna) has demonstrated this relationship. Collectively, these results suggest that evolved resistance may be common in zooplankton populations located near agriculture. Moreover, because zooplankton play a key role in aquatic food webs, it is expected that population variation in resistance would dramatically alter aquatic food webs, particularly with exposure to low concentrations of insecticides.

An approach to assess the regulatory relevance of microevolutionary effects in ecological risk assessment of chemicals: a case study with cadmium

The authors suggest an approach to assess the regulatory relevance of microevolutionary effects of chemicals based on a comparison of concentrations at which microevolutionary effects have been reported in the literature and conventionally derived ecotoxicological threshold concentrations. The authors found reports of microevolutionary effects of cadmium in freshwater organisms at hardness-normalized concentrations between 0.5 µg Cd L(-1) and 6290 µg Cd L(-1) (normalized to a hardness of 50 mg CaCO3 L(-1)). These concentrations were at least 1.5 times higher than the hardness-normalized hazardous concentration for 5% of the organisms of 0.34 µg Cd L(-1). This suggests that there is no immediate need to consider microevolutionary effects of Cd in environmental risk assessments of freshwater environments. However, some other aspects should be kept in mind as well. First, microevolutionary effects have so far only been investigated at few, relatively high concentrations of Cd and not encompassing the 5% hazardous concentration. Second, different types of microevolutionary effects or investigated ecotoxicological end points may influence the conclusions of the suggested comparative approach. Finally, factors influencing the bioavailability of Cd were not commonly reported in the literature, which made normalization of concentrations at which evolutionary effects occurred impossible and affected the number of studies that could be evaluated in the suggested approach.

The initial tolerance to sub-lethal Cd exposure is the same among ten naïve pond populations of Daphnia magna, but their micro-evolutionary potential to develop resistance is very different

Genetic variation complicates predictions of both the initial tolerance and the long-term (micro-evolutionary) response of natural Daphnia populations to chemical stressors from results of standard single-clone laboratory ecotoxicity tests. In order to investigate possible solutions to this problem, we aimed to compare the initial sub-lethal tolerance to Cd of 10 naïve natural pond populations of Daphnia magna as well as their evolutionary potential to develop increased resistance. We did so by measuring reproductive performance of 120 clones, i.e. 12 clones hatched from the recent dormant egg bank of each of 10 populations, both in absence (Cd-free control) and presence of 4.4 μg Cd/L. We show that the initial tolerance, defined as the reproductive performance of individuals of the first generation exposed to Cd relative to that in a Cd-free control was not significantly different among the 10 studied pond populations and averaged 0.82 ± 0.04 over these populations. Moreover, these populations' initial tolerances were also not significantly different from the mean initial tolerance of 0.87 ± 0.08 at 4.0 μg Cd/L measured for a group of 7 often-used laboratory clones, collected from a range of European ecotoxicity testing laboratories. This indicates that the initial response of naïve natural pond populations to sub-lethal Cd can be relatively accurately predicted from ecotoxicity test data from only a handful of laboratory clones. We then used estimates of broad-sense heritability of Cd tolerance (H(2)) - based on the same dataset - as a proxy of these populations' capacities to evolutionarily respond to Cd in terms of the development of increased resistance, which is here defined as the increase with time of the frequency of clones with a higher Cd tolerance in the population (accompanied with an increase of mean Cd-tolerance of the population above the initial tolerance). We show that the populations' estimated H(2) values of Cd-tolerance cover almost the entire theoretically possible range, ranging from not significantly different from zero (for five populations) to between 0.48 and 0.81 (for the five other populations). This indicates that, unlike the initial tolerance to Cd, the (long-term) micro-evolutionary response to Cd may be very different among natural pond populations. Therefore, we conclude that it may be very difficult to predict the long-term response of an unstudied population to chemical stress from tolerance data on a sample of other populations. It is therefore suggested that new methods for forecasting long-term responses should be explored, such as the development of predictive models based on the combination of population-genomic and tolerance time-series data.

The potential for adaptation in a natural Daphnia magna population: broad and narrow-sense heritability of net reproductive rate under Cd stress at two temperatures

The existence of genetic variability is a key element of the adaptive potential of a natural population to stress. In this study we estimated the additive and non-additive components of the genetic variability of net reproductive rate (R(0)) in a natural Daphnia magna population exposed to Cd stress at two different temperatures. To this end, life-table experiments were conducted with 20 parental and 39 offspring clonal lineages following a 2 × 2 design with Cd concentration (control vs. 3.7 μg Cd/L) and temperature (20 vs. 24 °C) as factors. Offspring lineages were obtained through inter-clonal crossing of the different parental lineages. The population mean, additive and non-additive genetic components of variation in each treatment were estimated by fitting an Animal Model to the observed R(0) values using restricted maximum likelihood estimation. From those estimates broad-sense heritabilities (H(2)), narrow-sense heritabilities (h(2)), total (CV(G)) and additive genetic coefficients of variation (CV(A)) of R(0) were calculated. The exposure to Cd imposed a considerable level of stress to the population, as shown by the fact that the population mean of R(0) exposed to Cd was significantly lower than in the control at the corresponding temperature, i.e. by 23 % at 20 °C and by 88 % at 24 °C. The latter difference indicates that increasing temperature increased the stress level imposed by Cd. The H² and CV(G) were significantly greater than 0 in all treatments, suggesting that there is a considerable degree of genetic determination of R(0) in this population and that clonal selection could rapidly lead to increasing population mean fitness under all investigated conditions. More specifically, the H² was 0.392 at 20 °C+Cd and 0.563 at 24 °C+Cd; the CV(G) was 30.0 % at 20 °C+Cd and was significantly higher (147.6 %) in the 24 °C+Cd treatment. Significant values of h(2) (= 0.23) and CV(A) (= 89.7 %) were only found in the 24 °C+Cd treatment, suggesting that the ability to produce more offspring under this stressful condition may be inherited across sexual generations. In contrast, in the less stressful 20 °C+Cd treatment the h(2) (0.06) and CV(A) (7.0 %) were very low and not significantly higher than zero. Collectively our data indicate that both the asexual and sexual reproduction phases in cyclic parthenogenetic D. magna populations may play a role in the long-term adaptive potential of Daphnia populations to chemical stress (with Cd as the current example) and that environmental variables which influence the stress level of that chemical may influence this adaptive potential (with temperature as current example).

Population growth rate responses of Ceriodaphnia dubia to ternary mixtures of specific acting chemicals: pharmacological versus ecotoxicological modes of action

When considering joint toxic apical effects at higher levels of biological organization, such as the growth of populations, the so-called pharmacological mode of action that relies on toxicological mechanistic effects on molecular target sites may not be relevant. Such effects on population growth rate will depend on the extent to which juvenile and adult survival rates and production rates (juvenile developmental rates and reproduction) are affected by toxic exposure and also by the sensitivity of population growth rates to life-history changes. In such cases, the ecotoxicological mode of action, defined as the crucial life-history trait processes and/or xenobiotic-life-history trait interactions underlying a toxicological effect on population growth rate, should be considered. Life-table response experiments with the crustacean Ceriodaphnia dubia exposed to single and ternary mixtures of nine compounds were conducted to test the hypothesis that joint effects on population growth rates could be predicted from the mixture constituent ecotoxicological mode of action. Joint effects of mixtures containing pharmacologically dissimilar compounds (cadmium, λ-cyhalothrin, and chlorpyrifos) that differentially affected life-history traits contributing to population growth rates were accurately predicted by the independent-action concept. Conversely, the concentration-addition concept accurately predicted joint effects of two different mixtures: one containing pharmacologically similar acting pyrethroids that also affected similarly life-history traits, the other one that included pharmacologically dissimilar compounds (3,4-dichloroaniline, sodium bromide, and fenoxycarb) acting mainly on reproduction rates. These results indicate that when assessing combined effects on population growth rate responses, selection of mixture toxicity conceptual models based on the ecotoxicological mode of action of mixture constituents provided more accurate predictions than those based on the pharmacological mode of action.

Life-history consequences of adaptation to pollution. "Daphnia longispina clones historically exposed to copper"

The present study was conducted to assess life history effects of adaptation to pollution in Daphnia longispina clones historically exposed to an acid mine drainage from an abandoned pyrite mine. Four sensitive and resistant clones from reference and impacted populations were exposed to a range of copper exposure levels and their life history and physiological responses in terms of survival, reproduction, respiration and feeding rates compared. The most resistant clone was from 16 to 48 fold more tolerant to copper in terms of LC(50) and population growth rates than sensitive ones, respectively. The genetic differences between the resistant and sensitive clones were that in the polluted environment individuals of the resistant clone survived 50% better, reproduced 3 days earlier, grew 20% better, produced three more offspring per day and had population growth rates 45% greater. In the unpolluted environment, however, individuals from the resistant clone had the lowest reproduction and somatic growth rates but equivalent population growth rates, than sensitive daphnids. Thus, these life history changes did not translate into lower fitness in unpolluted environments in terms of population growth rates. Observed higher respiration rates of the most resistant clone support in part the energy cost hypothesis of tolerance, whereas increase feeding, reproduction and growth rates across copper exposure levels may also, indicate that resistant individuals need copper to fulfil they physiological demands thus supporting the metal deficiency hypothesis as well.

Population-level effects of spinosad and Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis in Daphnia pulex and Daphnia magna: comparison of laboratory and field microcosm exposure conditions

Because exposure to toxicants not only results in mortality but also in multiple sublethal effects, the use of life-table data appears particularly suitable to assess global effects on exposed populations. The present study uses a life table response approach to assess population-level effects of two insecticides used against mosquito larvae, spinosad (8 μg/l) and Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti, 0.5 μl/l), on two non target species, Daphnia pulex and Daphnia magna (Crustacea: Cladocera), under laboratory versus field microcosms conditions. Population growth rates were inferred from life table data and Leslie matrices under a model with resource limitation (ceiling). These were further used to estimate population risks of extinction under each tested condition, using stochastic simulations. In laboratory conditions, analyses performed for each species confirmed the significant negative effect of spinosad on survival, mean time at death, and fecundity as compared to controls and Bti-treated groups; for both species, population growth rate λ was lower under exposure to spinosad. In field microcosms, 2 days after larvicide application, differences in population growth rates were observed between spinosad exposure conditions, and control and Bti exposure conditions. Simulations performed on spinosad-exposed organisms led to population extinction (minimum abundance = 0, extinction risk = 1), and this was extremely rapid (time to quasi-extinction = 4.1 one-week long steps, i.e. one month). Finally, D. magna was shown to be more sensitive than D. pulex to spinosad in the laboratory, and the effects were also detectable through field population demographic simulations.

The micro-evolutionary potential of Daphnia magna population exposed to temperature and cadmium stress

This study examines micro-evolutionary aspects of a natural Daphnia magna population exposed to Cd. To this end, a set of hypotheses related to micro-evolutionary responses and to how these are influenced by temperature and Cd stress, were tested. Life-table experiments were conducted with 14 D. magna clones collected from an unpolluted lake following a 2x2 design with Cd concentration and temperature as the factors (control vs. 5 microg/L cadmium, 20 vs. 24 degrees C). Several fitness traits were monitored during 21 days. Our results demonstrate (1) that chemicals can have effects on key population genetic characteristics such as genetic variation and between-trait correlations and (2) that these effects may differ depending on temperature. Their findings also suggests that further research is needed to understand the importance of combined chemical-global warming stress for micro-evolutionary responses of organisms. These aspects are currently not accounted for in any regulatory environmental risk assessment procedure.

Stereoisomeric separation and bioassay of a new organophosphorus compound, O,S-dimethyl-N-(2,2,2-trichloro-1-methoxyethyl)phosphoramidothioate: some implications for chiral switch

The manufacture and use of single- or enriched-enantiomer pesticides are green-chemistry developments advocated in the 21st century, but predictive work for chiral switch of newly produced chiral active ingredients is limited. In the present study, the stereoselective separation, target activity, and nontarget toxicity of O,S-dimethyl-N-(2,2,2-trichloro-1-methoxyethyl)phosphoramidothioate (MCP), a new organophosphorus compound, were investigated. Because being highly active and safe is a prerequisite for marketing single-isomer products, the above studies were used to offer some implications for the chiral switch of racemic MCP. The results showed that all four stereoisomers of MCP were successfully separated with a Chiralpak AD column on HPLC. The resolved isomers and the pairs of enantiomers were further distinguished using a circular dichroism detector, designating the first and third eluted peaks as one pair of enantiomers and the second and fourth peaks as the other pair. Then, the insecticidal activities and acute and delayed toxicities of the resolved isomers of MCP were evaluated by their acute lethal efficacy against Daphina magna , their inhibitory potentials to acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and axon-like outgrowth of the SH-SY5Y cells, respectively. The inhibition potencies of the isomers against AChE in SH-SY5Y cells were low and slightly stereoselective. On the other hand, a significant difference was observed among the isomers in their activities and delayed neurotoxicities. The 48 h acute toxicities of isomers to D. magna followed the order peak 1 approximately pair 1 (i.e., equimolar mixture of peaks 1 and 3) > peak 4 approximately racemate > pair 2 (i.e., equimolar mixture of peaks 2 and 4) > peak 2 > peak 3, with 1.0-6.3-fold differences among them. In comparison, the inhibitory potentials of the isomers toward axon growth of SH-SY5Y cells decreased in the order peak 2 > pair 2 > peak 4 > racemate > peak 3 > pair 1 approximately peak 1, with at least a 60-fold difference between the strongest and weakest inhibitors. Those results imply that peak 1 has the optimal target selectivity and ecological profile among the four stereoisomers. It was calculated that two-thirds of the usual pesticide usage can be saved concomitantly with a substantial decrease in neuropathic risk if MCP is present only as peak 1 rather than the racemate. When considering the absence of the economically feasible synthetic methods and techniques to produce optically pure isomers of organophosphorus pesticides, pair 1 of MCP shows considerable worth for future applications on the basis of its biological predominance and cost effectiveness.

Genetic variation in strains of zebrafish (Danio rerio) and the implications for ecotoxicology studies

There is substantial evidence that genetic variation, at both the level of the individual and population, has a significant effect on behaviour, fitness and response to toxicants. Using DNA microsatellites, we examined the genetic variation in samples of several commonly used laboratory strains of zebrafish, Danio rerio, a model species in toxicological studies. We compared the genetic variation to that found in a sample of wild fish from Bangladesh. Our findings show that the wild fish were significantly more variable than the laboratory strains for several measures of genetic variability, including allelic richness and expected heterozygosity. This lack of variation should be given due consideration for any study which attempts to extrapolate the results of ecotoxicological laboratory tests to wild populations.

Biochemical mechanisms of resistance in Daphnia magna exposed to the insecticide fenitrothion

Resistance to fenitrothion and enzyme activities associated with the toxicity and metabolism of organophosphorus insecticides were measured in three genetically unique Daphnia magna clones collected from rice fields of Delta del Ebro (NE Spain) during the growing season and a lab sensitive clone. The studied clones showed up to sixfold differences in resistance to fenitrothion. The lack of correlation between in vitro sensitivity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) to fenitrooxon and resistance to fenitrothion indicated that insensitivity of AChE to the most active oxon metabolite was not involved in the observed differences in resistance. Inhibition of mixed- function oxidases (MFOs) by piperonyl butoxide (PBO) increased the tolerance to fenitrothion by almost 20-fold in all clones without altering their relative ranking of resistance. Conversely, when exposed to fenitrooxon, the studied clones showed similar levels of tolerance, thus indicating that clonal differences in the conversion of fenitrothion to fenitrooxon by MFOs were involved in the observed resistance patterns. Despite that resistant clones showed over 1.5 higher activities of carboxilesterase (CbE) than sensitive ones, toxicity tests with 2-(O-cresyl)-4H-1,3,2-benzodioxaphosphorin-2 oxide, which is a specific inhibitor of these enzymes, evidenced that this system only contributed marginally to the observed clonal differences in tolerance. Glutathione-S-transferases activity (GST) varied across clones but not under exposure to fenitrothion, and was only related with tolerance levels in the field clones. In summary, our results indicate that MFO mediated differences on the bio-activation of the phosphorotionate OP pesticide to its active oxon metabolite contributed mostly in explaining the observed moderate levels of resistance, whereas the activities of CbE and GST had only a marginal role.

Cd and Zn uptake kinetics in Daphnia magna in relation to Cd exposure history

The uptake kinetics of Cd and Zn in a freshwater cladoceran Daphnia magna after exposure to different concentrations of Cd for various durations was quantified. The accumulated Cd concentrations increased with ambient Cd concentration and exposure duration. As a detoxification mechanism, metallothioneins (MTs) were induced when the Cd preexposure condition was beyond the noneffect threshold. The MT induction was dependent on both Cd concentration and duration of preexposure. Increasing the Cd exposure concentration to 20 microg L(-1) for 3 d caused a 44% reduction in Cd assimilation efficiency (AE, the fraction assimilated by the animals after digestion) by the daphnids from the dietary phase, but a 2.4-fold increase in Zn AE. Generally, the dissolved metal uptake rate was not significantly affected by the different Cd preexposure regimes, except at a much higher Cd concentration (20 microg L(-1)) when the Zn influx was enhanced. Significant effects from Cd exposure on the ingestion rate of the daphnids were also observed. When the MT synthesis was not coupled with the accumulated Cd tissue burden (e.g., a delay in MT synthesis), apparent Cd toxicity on the feeding behavior and the Cd AE was observed, thus highlighting the importance of MTs in modifying the metal uptake kinetics of D. magna. Overall, daphnids responded to acute Cd exposure by reducing their Cd AE and ingestion, whereas they developed a tolerance to Cd following chronic exposure. The bioavailability of Zn was enhanced as a result of Cd preexposure. This study highlights the important influences of Cd preexposure history on the biokinetics and potential toxicity of Cd and Zn to D. magna.

Role of B-esterases in assessing toxicity of organophosphorus (chlorpyrifos, malathion) and carbamate (carbofuran) pesticides to Daphnia magna

In this study, the cladoceran Daphnia magna was exposed to two model organophosphorous and one carbamate pesticides including malathion, chlorpyrifos and carbofuran to assess acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and carboxylesterase (CbE) inhibition and recovery patterns and relate those responses with individual level effects. Our results revealed differences in enzyme inhibition and recovery patterns among the studied esterase enzymes and pesticides. CbE was more sensitive to organophosphorous than AChE, whereas both CbE and AChE showed equivalent sensitivities to the carbamate carbofuran. Recovery patterns of AChE and CbE activities following exposure to the studied pesticides were similar with 80-100% recoveries taking place 12 and 96 h after exposure to organophosphorous and carbamates pesticides, respectively. The physiological role of AChE and CbE inhibition patterns in Daphnia was examined by using organophosphorous and carbamate compounds alone and with specific inhibitors of CbE. Under exposure to organophosphorous pesticides, survival of Daphnia juveniles was impaired at AChE inhibition levels higher than 50% whereas under exposure to the carbamate carbofuran low levels of AChE inhibition affected mortality. Inhibition of CbE by 80-90% increased toxicity to organophosphorous and carbamate pesticides by up to two- and four-fold, respectively. Our results suggest that both AChE and CbE enzymes are involved in determining toxicity of Daphnia to the studied chemicals and that AChE inhibition levels higher than 50% can be considered of environmental concern to Daphnia species.

Effects of zinc exposure on the polychaete Dinophilus gyrociliatus: a life-table response experiment

A life-table response experiment (LTRE) was performed in order to study the effects of enhanced zinc on the survival, fecundity and demographic indices of Dinophilus gyrociliatus (Polychaeta). A control group and three treated cohorts kept in artificial seawater enriched with nominal concentrations of zinc at 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00 microg Zn/ml, respectively, were considered. Zinc marginally affected survival but had a strong impact on the reproduction of D. gyrociliatus. Zinc enrichment had no effect on age at maturity, whereas it induced a slight increase in fecundity during the early reproductive phases at 0.50 and 1.00 microg Zn/ml, and a sharp decrease in fecundity from the 20th day of life at all levels of metal enrichment tested. Treated groups were characterised by a marked reduction of the net growth rate (R0) and a decrease in generation time (T) with respect to the control groups, but no effect on life expectancy (e0) or on population growth rates (lambda) was observed. R0 and lambda, which are the most commonly used indices of fitness, were not equally susceptible to zinc. Lambda appears less sensitive to stress induced by metal enrichment with respect to R0 and other life history traits like age-specific fecundity. D. gyrociliatus appears to be an appropriate bioindicator species in LTRE to assess the consequences of environmental heavy metals on individual life-history and population dynamics.

Quantifying copper and cadmium impacts on intrinsic rate of population increase in the terrestrial oligochaete Lumbricus rubellus

Demographic methods can translate toxicant effects on individuals into consequences for populations. To date few such studies have been conducted with longer-lived invertebrates. This is because full life-cycle experiments are difficult with such species. Here we report the effects of copper and cadmium on the key demographic parameter intrinsic rate of population increase (r) in a long-lived invertebrate (an earthworm). The approach used to derive r was based on robust measurement of effects on life-cycle traits in three specifically designed toxicity tests and integration of this data within a demographic model. The three laboratory tests used to generate values for specific life-cycle parameters under copper and cadmium exposure were suited to the task. Significant effects on a range of separate adult and juvenile life-cycle parameters were seen. Integration of parameter values within the demographic equation indicated that for copper, r was reduced only at a concentration that also caused adult mortality. For cadmium, a more graded exposure-dependent effect on fitness was seen, with r reduced at sublethal concentrations. The concentration response patterns for r found for the two metals suggest significantly different consequences for earthworm populations exposed to sublethal levels of copper and cadmium.

Genetic variability in sublethal tolerance to mixtures of cadmium and zinc in clones of Daphnia magna Straus

To date, studies on genetic variability in the tolerance of aquatic biota to chemicals have focused on exposure to single chemicals. In the field, metals occur as elemental mixtures, and thus it is essential to study whether the genetic consequences of exposure to such mixtures differs from response to single chemicals. This study determined the feeding responses of three Daphnia magna Straus clones exposed to Cd and Zn, both individually and as mixtures. Tolerance to mixtures of Cd and Zn was expressed as the proportional feeding depression of D. magna to Cd at increasing zinc concentrations. A quantitative genetic analysis revealed that genotype and genotype x environmental factors governed population responses to mixtures of both metals. More specifically, genetic variation in tolerance to sublethal levels of Cd decreased at those Zn concentrations where there were no effects on feeding, and increased again at Zn concentrations that affected feeding. The existence of genotype x environmental interactions indicated that the genetic consequences of exposing D. magna to mixtures of Cd and Zn cannot be predicted from the animals' response to single metals alone. Therefore, current ecological risk assessment methodologies for predicting the effects of chemical mixtures may wish to incorporate the concept of genetic variability. Furthermore, exposure to low and moderate concentrations of Zn increased the sublethal tolerance to Cd. This induction of tolerance to Cd by Zn was also observed for D. magna fed algae pre-loaded with both metals. Furthermore, in only one clone, physiological acclimatization to zinc also induced tolerance to cadmium. These results suggest that the feeding responses of D. magna may be related to gut poisoning induced by the release of metals from algae under low pH conditions. In particular, both induction of metallothionein synthesis by Zn and competition between Zn and Cd ions for uptake at target sites on the gut wall may be involved in determining sublethal responses to mixtures of both metals.

Determining genetic variability in the distribution of sensitivities to toxic stress among and within field populations of Daphnia magna

To extrapolate credibly from individuals in the laboratory to field populations, it is essential to account for genetic differences in susceptibility to toxic stress and thus incorporate genetic variability into ecological risk estimates. In this study, the distribution of sensitivities across two toxic chemicals among and within field populations of Daphnia magna were used to quantify genetic variability. The study employed 30 D. magna clones from three geographically separate European populations. The sensitivity of each population studied and its constituent clones was estimated in terms of the concentrations of lambda-cyhalothrin and cadmium impairing individual fitness by 10 and 50% (EC10-50). Results revealed that differences in tolerance among clones within populations were large when compared with differences between populations and that the genetic range of sensitivities to toxic stress within populations was log-normally distributed. Furthermore, reported variation in sensitivity values to toxic stress among different laboratory species, populations, and clones was similar to that observed among and within field populations of Daphnia. These results suggest that it is possible to estimate genetic variability by estimating the tolerance distribution of laboratory populations and clones and that extrapolation approaches currently used in ecological risk assessment should explicitly incorporate genetic variability in tolerance into risk estimates.

Biochemical factors contributing to response variation among resistant and sensitive clones of Daphnia magna Ssraus exposed to ethyl parathion

Biochemical factors contributing to response variation in five clones of Daphnia magna exposed to ethyl parathion were studied. Differences in sensitivities to ethyl parathion between sensitive and resistant clones varied between four- and ninefold. Acute toxicity and in vivo acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition responses to ethyl parathion were similar, whereas in vitro AChE sensitivities to paraoxon were higher. Thus indicating that, in vivo, not all ethyl parathion present is converted by Daphnia juveniles to active metabolite, or if so, only a proportion of the paraoxon produced is in direct contact with its target. Comparison of AChE activities obtained during in vitro and in vivo exposures with acute responses revealed clonal concordance only between in vivo AChE sensitivities and acute toxicity. This latter finding indicates that clonal differences in ethyl parathion metabolism rather than differences in AChE sensitivities are the most likely explanations of the observed genetic differences in tolerance.