The effects of copper on embryo development were found to differ between populations of the mussel Mytilus edulis L. (Mollusca: Bivalvia). Concentrations of copper which caused significantly increased rates of abnormality, and thus decreased yields of normal larvae, in populations from an unpolluted site (Menai Straits, Wales, UK) and to a lesser extent in an intermediately polluted site (Oosterschelde, The Netherlands) did not affect development of embryos from a polluted-site (Westerschelde, The Netherlands) population Crosses indicated that tolerance was mostly maternally determined, but there is also evidence of a paternal, i.e, genetic, effect. An appreciable quantity of background, non-treatment, embryo abnormality appeared to be sperm-mediated.
Exposure of Mytilus edulis L. (Molluscs: Bivalvia) to 8 ppb (ppb = 1-lg I-') added copper during the vellger larval or post-larval (spat) stages has no significant effects on survivorship or shell growth However, previous exposure to 8 ppb added copper d u r~n g the embryo stage significantly Increases veliger growth rate and decreases spat survivorship in a population from the Menal S t r a~t , Wales, UK, in which this level of copper causes a slgnlflcant increase in embryo abnormality No such effects of pre-exposure are seen in a population from the Westerschelde, The Netherlands, where 8 ppb added copper does not constitute a stress on the embryo. These 'pre-incubation' (embryo exposure) effects far outweigh any direct influence of 8 ppb copper exposure d u n n g the later stages a n d have a substantial effect on estimates of the toxlcity of copper over the llfe cycle of M e d u l~s
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