Effects of acid mine drainage on the genetic diversity and structure of a natural population of Daphnia longispina

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe increase in resistance to contaminants can result in the loss of genetic diversity of impacted populations. In this work, the effects of acid mine drainage (AMD) on the genetic diversity and structure of a historically exposed population of Daphnia longispina were evaluated using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. Individual sensitivity to acute copper exposure was determined in order to characterize the populations in terms of metal tolerance and in an attempt to identify possible contaminant indicative bands (CIB). No reduction in genetic diversity was found in the AMD impacted site population, in comparison to two reference populations. However, the analysis of molecular variance indicated a significant genetic differentiation from the two reference populations and a significant correlation between individual genetic distance and tolerance. The different average tolerance of individuals presenting one specific AFLP band indicated the existence of one putative CIB.

Occurrence of Cladocera and the genetic diversity ofDaphnia cucullatain the pelagic zone of Latvian salmonid lakes

“…Fundamental researches into Daphnia's molecular phylogenesis in different geographical areas, such as Europe (Schwenk et al, 2000), North America (Colbourne & Hebert, 1996), South America (Adamowicz et al, 2004), and Australia (Colbourne et al, 2006) are of particular interest. Daphnia has been used in a series of population genetics studies (Schwenk et al, 1998;Hellsten & Sundberg, 2000;Atienzar & Jha, 2004;Mergeay et al, 2005;Picado et al, 2007;Martins et al, 2009).…”

Life-history consequences of adaptation to pollution. “Daphnia longispina clones historically exposed to copper”

“…Hereafter, increasing fitness costs will be defined in terms of reduced reproductive output, growth rates and population growth and physiological costs in terms of increasing energy demand according to Shirley and Sibly (1999). Previous studies have reported that long term adaptation to acid main drainage did not affect genetic diversity of neutral markers in these D. longispina populations (Martins et al 2007;Martins et al 2009). In a quantitative genetic study testing up to 40 different clones for resistance to copper and zinc, Agra et al (2010) found only high degrees of resistance to copper in D. longispina clones from populations affected by S. Domingos acid drainage.…”

Evaluating the impact of a fluoropolymer plant on a river macrobenthic community by a combined chemical, ecological and genetic approach

“…At this regard, it is worth mentioning that similar studies, based on AFLP, which succeeded in finding effects induced by contaminant on population genetics, usually referred to more toxic substances than the molecules considered in this study (Bach and Dahllof, 2012;Gardestrom et al, 2008;Martins et al, 2009;Andre et al 2010). Indeed, an in vivo assay aimed at investigating the evolutionary toxicology of perfluoralkyl substances (PFOS, PFOA, PFBS) in a multigeneration toxicity test on Chironomus riparius was recently carried out (Stefani et al, 2014).…”