Acclimation to Low Level Exposure of Copper in Bufo arenarum Embryos: Linkage of Effects to Tissue Residues

Abstract

The acclimation possibilities to copper in Bufo arenarum embryos was evaluated by means of three different low level copper exposure conditions during 14 days. By the end of the acclimation period the copper content in control embryos was 1.04 ± 0.09 μg.g−1 (wet weight) while in all the acclimated embryos a reduction of about 25% of copper was found. Thus copper content could be considered as a biomarker of low level exposure conditions. Batches of 10 embryos (by triplicate) from each acclimation condition were challenged with three different toxic concentrations of copper. As a general pattern, the acclimation protocol to copper exerted a transient beneficial effect on the survival of the Bufo arenarum embryos. The acclimation phenomenon could be related to the selection of pollution tolerant organisms within an adaptive process and therefore the persistence of information within an ecological system following a toxicological stressor.

Cadmium stress stimulates tissue turnover in Helix pomatia: increasing cell proliferation from metal tolerance to exhaustion in molluscan midgut gland

“…Consequently, at lower doses of Cd stress, the stimulation of reactive cellular mechanisms observed in Cd-exposed snails may, at first, contribute to increased individual fitness by triggering tolerance toward metal exposure. This phenomenon has been called hormesis (Calabrese and Baldwin 2001) and can be described as an organism's physiological reaction to low toxicant doses that can transiently boost individual fitness because of their beneficial enhancement of resistance mechanisms (Calabrese 2004;Herkovits and Pérez-Coll 2007). Thus, induced tolerance against Cd stress evoked by pre-exposure to low doses of Cd, as observed in H. pomatia (Manzl et al 2004) and other animal species (Chang et al 1998;Butler and Roesijadi 2001), may just be one important trigger for such a beneficial effect.…”

One Health: potential synergy between infectious and toxic agents. The case of COVID-19

“…It is noteworthy that living organisms incorporate and are sensitive to noxious agents, even orders of magnitude below concentrations that have overt toxic effects [4]. After surpassing resilience capacity, the adverse effects of environmental toxicity on health can be documented even by non-invasive methods.…”

Divergence in heritable life history traits suggests potential for local adaptation and trade‐offs associated with a coal ash disposal site

“…Plastic responses to environmental variables such as predators (Freeman & Byers, 2006 ), changing temperatures (Walsh et al, 2014 ) and contaminants (Hua et al, 2013 ) are widespread. In some cases, exposure to stressors, such as pesticides or metals, early in development, induces a plastic phenotype that has increased tolerance to that stressor later in life (Herkovits & Pérez‐Coll, 2007 ; Hua et al, 2013 ; Lauren & McDonald, 1987 ; Tate‐Boldt & Kolok, 2008 ). If the new phenotype improves fitness in the novel environment, then plasticity can provide an initial rescue before genetic adaptation and evolutionary rescue (Bell & Collins, 2008 ; Chevin et al, 2010 ).…”