Short-term physiological responses to a severe acid stress in three macroinvertebrate species: A comparative study

Abstract

The present study focuses on the sensitivity among freshwater invertebrate species to acidic stress. Three common macroinvertebrate species in the Vosges Mountains (North-Eastern France), Gammarus fossarum (Amphipoda), Hydropsyche pellucidula (Trichoptera) and Dinocras cephalotes (Plecoptera) were exposed for 24, 72 and 120 h to natural acidified water (pH=4.73+/-0.08, [Ca2+]=39.1+/-0.6 micromol l(-1), [Al(tot)]=28.4+/-1 micromol l(-1)). Short-term exposure to acid stress caused significant decreases both in survival rate and haemolymph ions ([Cl-] and [Na+]). The relative sensitivity to a natural acidic stress slightly differed among the species and was in the following order: G. fossarum, as the most sensitive, then H. pellucidula and D. cephalotes. Results of this study confirm the interest of in situ tests to assess the toxicity of short-term acid exposure. Finally, our results reinforce the hypothesis that transient acidification can offset the recovery of sensitive species of macroinvertebrates in streams chemically recovering from acidification either through liming or declining deposition.

Elevated Aluminium Concentration in Acidified Headwater Streams Lowers Aquatic Hyphomycete Diversity and Impairs Leaf-Litter Breakdown

“…Our results show that in the Vosges mountains, aquatic hyphomycete communities are severely impoverished, as are macroinvertebrate communities, as established in previous studies [37,66]. In these streams, a combined toxic effect of high protons and aluminium concentrations has been demonstrated for different species of invertebrates [24,25] as commonly reported for other aquatic organisms such as fish [50], crayfish [2], macrophytes [23] and algae [13,40].…”

“…1) [17,58]. Based on previous studies [19,20,25,66], six headwater streams showing different levels of acidity (Table 1) and NO À 3 by ion chromatography (Dionex 1500i with a AS 4 A SC column; Sunnyvale, USA).…”

Using fuzzy‐coded traits to elucidate the non‐random role of anthropogenic stress in the functional homogenisation of invertebrate assemblages

“…Indeed, low pH can inhibit the microbial conditioning of leaf litter (Larrañaga et al, 2010), one of the most important sources of energy for benthic communities in small headwater streams. In addition, the loss of biodiversity in acid waters has often been attributed mainly to direct toxicity (Felten & Gu erold, 2006). This toxicity may be linked either to the ionic depletion in haemolymph induced by low pH (Felten & Gu erold, 2006) or to high concentration of aluminium (McCahon & Pascoe, 1989).…”

“…In addition, the loss of biodiversity in acid waters has often been attributed mainly to direct toxicity (Felten & Gu erold, 2006). This toxicity may be linked either to the ionic depletion in haemolymph induced by low pH (Felten & Gu erold, 2006) or to high concentration of aluminium (McCahon & Pascoe, 1989). Therefore, it seems that it is more the (physiological) sensitivity of species to this specific stress rather than their degree of specialisation for different resources which is driving community composition.…”

Effects of Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Remote Freshwater Ecosystems

“…In particular, pH values \5.6 and aluminum concentrations [100 lg L -1 are thresholds of lethal toxicity for a variety of aquatic organisms, because they cause loss of physiologically important ions such as Na ? from the blood plasma (Simpson et al 1985;Driscoll and Schecher 1990;Baker et al 1996;Lepori et al 2003b;Felten and Guérold 2006). Thus, in Adirondack streams, brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and forage fish (blacknose dace, Rhinichthys atratulus; mottled sculpin, Cottus bairdi; and slimy sculpin, Cottus cognatus) suffer high mortality during acid episodes (Baker et al 1996).…”