Relative sensitivities of common freshwater fish and invertebrates to acute hypoxia

Abstract

The acute lethality of low dissolved oxygen (DO) was examined in laboratory studies using several New Zealand freshwater fish and two invertebrates at 15°C. The 48-h LC50 value was used as the endpoint for acute DO sensitivity as, owing to rapid mortality, this was found to best approximate the threshold lethal concentration. Median lethal time to death did not provide a reliable endpoint for comparing sensitivities. Fish LC 50 values varied from 0.54 to 2.65 mg litre -1 , with inanga whitebait (Galaxias maculatus; 2.65 ± 0.19 mg litre -1 , mean + SEM) being the most sensitive species tested. Common smelt (Retropinna retropinna; 1.83 ± 0.08 mg litre -1 ) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss; 1.61 ± 0.06 mg litre -1 ) were similar in their sensitivities, whereas common bully (Gobiomorphus cotidianus; 0.91 ± 0.06 mg litre -1 ) and shortfin eel elvers (Anguilla australis; 0.54 ± 0.03 mg litre -1 ) were the most tolerant fish. The shrimp (Paratya curvirostris; 0.82 ± 0.09 mg litre -1 ) and freshwater crayfish (Koura, Paranephrops planifrons; 0.77 ± 0.06 mg litre -1 ) were also tolerant to low DO. A subset of experiments to determine the relative M05001;

Untitled

“…This could be due to the increased C: N ratio which stimulates the growth of the heterotrophic bacteria which in turn require oxygen for their growth. This finding is in accordance with that of Landman et al [44] who determined the hypoxia sensitivity of ten fish and invertebrate species in plastic aquaria in New Zealand and found that there was a decrease in dissolved oxygen concentrations with the increase of C: N ratio. Sun et al [45] studied the supplementation and consumption of dissolved oxygen and their seasonal variations in a shrimp pond.…”

Impacts of hypoxia on estuarine macroinvertebrate assemblages across a regional nutrient gradient

“…This variability, sometimes ranging from anoxic to supersaturated over a single day, means that dissolved oxygen at the time of sampling may not reflect the conditions that the invertebrate community recently experienced. It has been established that dissolved oxygen concentration can alter animal behaviour through avoidance (Levin et al 2009), feeding cessation (Nestlerode and Diaz 1998;Riedel et al 2014), reduction in activity (Riedel et al 2014), and death (Miller et al 2002;Nedergaard et al 2002;Landman et al 2005;Howarth 2008). Previous work by in this region showed evidence of short-term response to sustained hypoxia by amphipods.…”

“…Metrics were based on work by Coffin et al (submitted), which found that hypoxia (proportion of time below 4 mg/L), dissolved oxygen supersaturation (proportion of time above 10 mg/L), and the coefficient of variation of dissolved oxygen were all predicted by water residence time and nitrate loading. Additionally, metrics for the proportion of time <2 mg/L, <6 mg/L, and >15 mg/L were incorporated for greater resolution of sites that were minimally and maximally impacted by nutrients (Miller et al 2002;Landman et al 2005;Riedel et al 2014;Coffin et al submitted). The duration of 48 h was selected because effects from hypoxia prior to invertebrate sampling would likely still be evident , and although not investigated directly in this manuscript, the impacts on behaviour and survivorship can occur after extended exposure to hypoxia (Miller et al 2002;Riedel et al 2014).…”

Associations of watershed vegetation and environmental variables with fish and crayfish assemblages in headwater streams of the Pedernales River, Texas

“…low velocity and discharge). Crayfish tend to be more tolerant of low water quality than most North American stream fish (Seiler and Turner, 2004;Landman et al, 2005), and in our study, crayfish occurred at several sites with relatively low DO. Moreover, some crayfish burrow into mud to survive periods of drought (Jordan et al, 2000), whereas fish of this region cannot survive in dry streambeds.…”

“…Relationships between species abundance, richness, and composition with water depth, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, substrate composition and other environmental factors have been described in many systems (Schlosser, 1987;Chipps et al, 1994;Landman et al, 2005). Furthermore, several recent studies have revealed the relative influence of local and regional environmental factors on community structure of aquatic macrofauna (Hugueny and Paugy, 1995;Marsh-Matthews and Matthews, 2000;Jackson et al, 2001).…”