Effects of zinc on the life-cycle, growth and reproduction of the marine amphipod Corophium volutator

Abstract

The effects of zinc concentrations on the life-history, growth and reproduction of Corophium volutator (Pallas, 1766) were investigated Amphipods were exposed for 100 d to 4 sublethal zinc concentrations (0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 mg I-') Except for the highest concentration tested, zinc exposure did not affect the life-span of C. volutator, although the number of surviving amphipods decreased with increasing concentrations. Life expectancy at the end of the experiment differed at the various zinc exposure concentrations (p < 0.001). Zinc concentrations higher than 0.6 mg l-' reduced longevity up to 20% in comparison with controls. Growth was also impaired. The degree of reduction in growth rate increased with increasing metal concentration. Amphipods exposed to 0.2 mg Zn 1-' exhibited a reduction of 6 . 4 %~ in the specific growth rate (SGR), while those grown at 0.4. 0.6, and 0.8 mg Zn 1-' exhibited reductions in SGR of 8, 9 and 24.6"6, respect~vely. The length of mature amphipods was also reduced following zinc exposure (p < 0.05). Sex ratio was unaffected (p = 0.44), however maturation rates were slightly reduced and fertility was greatly impaired. Survival of ovigerous females and fertility were also affected by zinc when mature amphipods were exposed to these concentrations. The relationship between growth and reproduction as well as the use of growth as an endpoint in ecotoxicological studies is discussed.

Effects of two commonly used fungicides on the amphipod Austrochiltonia subtenuis

“…The present study demonstrated that the female amphipods were more sensitive than the males in terms of growth and that toxic effects could be neglected if both males and females were not used in the experiment or measured independently. In the natural environment, this delay in growth of female amphipods could consequently impair the reproduction of the population, because organisms need to reach a certain size before reproduction can occur [49] and larger organisms produce larger broods than smaller individuals [50]. A plausible explanation for this observation is the difference in response of female and male amphipods and the fact that they were not measured separately.…”

Multi-level assessment of chronic toxicity of estuarine sediments with the amphipod Gammarus locusta: II. Organism and population-level endpoints

“…For the amphipod C. volutator a standardized protocol for acute marine sediment toxicity has been created under the auspices of the Oslo and Paris Commissions (PARCOM, 1993) and given its wide use and amount of toxicological information, can be considered an European ''benchmark'' species (in the sense of Chapman, 1995). Yet, most of the published studies with C. volutator still concern only acute sediment toxicity (Ciarelli, Vonck, & van Straalen, 1997;Grant & Briggs, 2002;Matthiessen et al, 1998) and very few considered chronic exposures or other endpoints than survival and burrowing behavior (e.g., Ciarelli, Vonck, van Straalen, & Stronkhorst, 1998;Conradi & Depledge, 1999). Therefore, despite the growing use of sediment toxicity tests as a fundamental component of ecotoxicological assessments, and the enormous scientific effort devoted to them in the last decade, the new generation (Moore & Dillon, 1993) of chronic marine and estuarine sediment tests is yet to be developed, at least in Europe.…”

Body size and reproductive traits of Palaemon elegans Rathke, 1837 (Crustacea, Decapoda), a recent colonizer of the Baltic Sea

“…Environmental factors that are crucial as regards intraspecific variation in reproductive traits include salinity, food availability, temperature and the presence of toxic substances (e.g. Kinne 1970Kinne , 1971Kolding and Fenchel 1981;Conradi and Depledge 1999;Maranhão et al 2001;Eriksson Wiklund et al 2008).…”