Ecotoxicity assessment is usually done by classical tests under controlled conditions. However, field situations may not be accurately predicted by laboratory testing. In situ testing is a pertinent way for assessing the ecological relevance of laboratory bioassays. The objectives of this study were to develop an in situ test chamber and respective test protocols suitable for ecotoxicity testing with zooplankton and to evaluate the use of laboratory protocols (water column and solid phase) by comparing results obtained under controlled conditions with in situ results at an aquatic system receiving acid mine drainage. At the most contaminated stations and at the reference stations, good agreement was found between in situ and classical testing. At intermediate stations, in situ toxicity was generally higher than that in classical tests. Sample collection and preservation probably altered actual toxicity, thus emphasizing the need for caution in estimating or extrapolating field effects from laboratory results. Keywords-Insitu testing Test development Daphnia magna Field validation Acid mine drainage Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 18, 1999 A.M.M. Pereira et al.

The time of the activity may be changed throughout the circadian cycle to increase the fitness of species and allow their co‐existence. The goal of this paper was to test whether the activity patterns of ocelots Leopardus pardalis are synchronized with those of their potential prey, and assess the effect of the moon cycle on this predator–prey relationship, through camera‐trapping. Activity levels of ocelots and potential prey have been assessed across circadian and moon cycles and the temporal overlap between them was calculated for each moon phase. Ocelots have shown to be nocturnal and the number of their records has been constant across the moon cycle, and their activity patterns overlapped those of their nocturnal prey significantly more than remaining species', during full moon. These findings suggest that ocelots switch the type of prey (diurnal or nocturnal) they hunt in different moon phases and display higher hunting success in full moon nights.

Bio-insecticides have been increasingly used worldwide as ecofriendly alternatives to pesticides, but data on their effects in non-target freshwater organisms is still scarce and limited to insects. The aim of this study was to determine the lethal and sub-lethal effects of the bio-insecticides Bac Control (based on Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki -Btk) and Boveril (based on Beauveria bassiana -Bb) on regeneration, behavioral and reproductive endpoints of the freshwater planarian Girardia tigrina. The estimated LC 50 − 48h were > 800 mg a.i./L for Btk and 60.74 mg a.i./L for Bb. In addition, exposure to Btk signi cantly decreased locomotion and feeding activities of planarians (lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC) of 12.5 mg a.i./L Btk) and fecundity rate (LOEC = 3.12 mg a.i./L Btk), whereas exposure to Bb signi cantly delayed regeneration (LOEC = 0.75 mg a.i./L Bb) and decreased fecundity rate (1.5 mg a.i./L Bb) of planarians. Thus, both bio-insecticides induced deleterious sub-lethal effects on a non-insect freshwater invertebrate species. However, only Bb-based formulation affected the survival, fecundity rate and regeneration at concentrations below the maximum predicted environmental concentration (PEC = 247 mg/L). Thus, care should be taken when using such formulations as alternatives to chemical insecticides near aquatic ecosystems.

Atlantic and Mediterranean warming-related diseases outbreaks and species shifts recently have been documented. Evaluated tools of short-term effects on the health or organisms resistance are necessary to assess and understand mechanisms affecting marine biodiversity. Until now, climate warming has been studied at the population or community level. Here we offer a better understanding of such phenomena at the individual organism level, using anatomic-morphological approaches to interpret effects of natural physical stressors, according to behavioral patterns. The goal of this work was to evaluate the sea anemones behavior with temperature variance. This study takes a method of behavioral observations (morphological and anatomic parameters, with physiological implications) to identify changes in behavior, after exposure to the physical stressors temperature (10˚C, 15˚C, 20˚C, 25˚C and 30˚C) on temperate sea anemone Actinia equina over 96 h of exposure. Other endpoints as condition index and reproduction also assessed. Behavioral patterns analysis placed the differentially ecological functions in a wide range of categories including tentacle flexion, tentacle retraction, column cavitation, peristome depression and oral disc flexion. These parameters suggest that the "early stress response" (before result on individual death) to elevated temperature involves essentially all aspects of same chemical reactions. In this case we observed receptors functioning and the frequency of open-close oral sea anemones, tentacles and columns anatomic alterations to detect earlier the efHow to cite this paper: Gadelha, J.R., Jesus, F., Gomes, P.B., Von Osten, J.R., Morgado, 2/24OALib Journal fects of physical stress induction. The superiority of results tested was that the key species reacted to different temperature ranges in order to demonstrate that species from different climatic zones could have the same behavioral pattern but have intrinsic adaptations on each climatic zone. Also some collections of parameters such as: 1) water nutrients availability, 2) reproductions rate (number of polyps), 3) survival (condition index) and 4) temperature variations were significant on behavioral answers.