Biological responses of a simulated marine food chain to lead addition

Abstract

This investigation sought to assess the biological responses to Pb along a simplified four-level food chain, from the primary producer, the microalgae Tetraselmis suecica, grown in a control medium with < 1 µg/L of Pb and exposed to a sublethal dose (20 µg/L of Pb) and used as the base of a simulated food chain, through the primary-, secondary-, and tertiary-level consumers, namely, the brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana; the white-leg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei; and the grunt fish, Haemulon scudderi, respectively. Growth of Pb-exposed T. suecica was 40% lower than that of the control cultures, and survival of A. franciscana fed this diet was 25 to 30% lower than the control. No differences in the growth rates of Pb-exposed and control shrimp and fish and no gross morphological changes were evident in the exposed specimens. However, the exposed shrimp and fish had 20 and 15% higher mortalities than their controls, respectively. In addition, behavioral alterations were observed in exposed shrimp and fish, including reduction in food consumption or cessation of feeding, breathing air out of the water, reduction of motility, and erratic swimming. The negative correlation between Pb concentration in whole body of shrimp and fish and Fulton's condition factor suggested also that the exposed organisms were stressed because of Pb accumulation.

Quantification of the Sub-lethal Toxicity of Metals and Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals to the Marine Green Microalga Tetraselmis suecica

“…The concentrations of each were chosen based on EC 50 values reported for other aquatic organisms (Millán de Kuhn et al, 2006;Soto-Jiménez et al, 2011). Accordingly, a range of concentrations of each chemical was prepared, as described below.…”

Ecotoxicological Impact of the Marine Toxin Palytoxin on the Micro-Crustacean Artemia franciscana

“…For these reasons, Artemia spp. are commonly used for aquatic ecotoxicological studies, in particular for the marine environment [25] and for bioaccumulation studies of substances along the food web [32].…”

A seasonal comparison of trace metal concentrations in the tissues of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) in Northern Québec, Canada

“…Specifically, models of variation for essential metals (Cu and Zn) were expected to be better descriptors of the data when including information on trophic position and/or feeding strategies (represented by δ 15 N and δ 13 C, respectively) and season as a result of the uptake processes associated with these trace metals (Bury et al 2003;Kamunde et al 2002;Mathews and Fisher 2009) and the dominance of seasonal summer feeding exhibited by anadromous Arctic charr. In contrast, non-essential metals (As, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Pb) were expected to be better described by models inclusive of biological descriptors (fork length and/or age), trophic position (δ 15 N) (Gantner et al 2009;Köck et al 1996;Soto-Jiménez et al 2011) and season, as these variables are known to significantly influence measured trace metal concentrations in fish tissue (Agah et al 2009;Kahilainen et al 2016;Wiener et al 2003).…”