Nongenetic inheritance of increased Cd tolerance in a field Gammarus fossarum population: Parental exposure steers offspring sensitivity

A “Population Dynamics” Perspective on the Delayed Life-History Effects of Environmental Contaminations: An Illustration with a Preliminary Study of Cadmium Transgenerational Effects over Three Generations in the Crustacean Gammarus

“…Interestingly, we previously identified a field G. fossarum population historically exposed to Cd that presents a reduction in the average body size of adult organisms [ 28 ]. Transgenerational processes were also shown to be involved in the development of Cd tolerance in this population [ 7 ]. Such changes in the distribution of population body size can have significant consequences on the functioning of the aquatic ecosystem—for example, for the recycling of organic matter by affecting the shredding activity of detritus by macroinvertebrates [ 66 , 67 ] or for the availability of biomass for aquatic predators [ 68 ].…”

“…Metallic and especially cadmium (Cd) contaminations have been documented as a limiting factor of gammarid abundance in French watercourses [26,27]. Besides, we recently showed in one field Gammarus fossarum population historically exposed to Cd that transgenerational processes were involved in the modification of toxicological sensitivities and their related fitness costs [7,28]. In addition, the exposure to low Cd concentrations in the laboratory modulated epigenetic marks in G. fossarum [29].…”

“…The time lag between environmental exposure and biological impacts challenges current ecological risk assessment [ 1 ], since delayed effects may deeply affect the future ability of populations to persist in their environment [ 2 , 3 ]. Ecotoxicological studies have now highlighted that delayed effects of contaminants are involved in the persistence or aggravation of the long-term adverse impacts of chronic contaminations [ 4 , 5 ], but also in the development of tolerance [ 6 , 7 ]. The long-term effects of chemical contaminations also influence the population vulnerability to cope with additional environmental stressors [ 7 , 8 ].…”

“…Ecotoxicological studies have now highlighted that delayed effects of contaminants are involved in the persistence or aggravation of the long-term adverse impacts of chronic contaminations [ 4 , 5 ], but also in the development of tolerance [ 6 , 7 ]. The long-term effects of chemical contaminations also influence the population vulnerability to cope with additional environmental stressors [ 7 , 8 ]. It is noteworthy that the majority of these ecotoxicological studies dealing with the role of delayed effects in long-term impacts of contamination have focused on trace metals.…”

A common fungicide impairs stream ecosystem functioning through effects on aquatic hyphomycetes and detritivorous caddisflies

“…Our results suggest that extrapolating results from ecotoxicological assays with daphnids (where most information comes from; EPA, 1999) to other taxa may underestimate the real effects of fungicides for communities and ecosystems. Different taxa are likely to have different degrees of tolerance to fungicides (Feckler et al, 2012;Vigneron et al, 2019), and differences are likely to be high between crustaceans and insects, which differ in structure and physiology (Tachet et al, 2000). Thus, future ecotoxicological studies should aim to reflect natural communities as much as possible (Beketov and Liess, 2012), including assessments of long-term effects and multispecies toxicity bioassays (Steyna et al, 2019).…”