Search results for "INVERTEBRATES"
showing 10 items of 230 documents
Use of artificial substrates for sampling benthic macroinvertebrates in the assessment of water quality of large lowland rivers
2004
The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the usefulness of the artificial substrate sampler in collecting macroinvertebrates for water quality assessment of Polish lowland rivers. This paper presents the results of a comparative study between two different sampling techniques, i.e. nettings filled with brick as artificial substrates and handnet sampling. The validity of applying the biotic index method is also demonstrated. The Belgian Biotic Index (BBI) method and the lower Nysa Kłodzka river were chosen for study. Macroinvertebrates were collected seasonally at five sampling sites. Although some invertebrate taxa revealed a specific preference for one of the two tested sampling…
An extended Benthic Quality Index for assessment of lake profundal macroinvertebrates: addition of indicator taxa by multivariate ordination and weig…
2014
The chironomid Benthic Quality Index (BQI) is a widely used metric in assessments of lake status. The BQI is based on 7 indicator taxa, which like most profundal fauna, often occur sporadically in low densities. Hence, a major weakness of the index is that it cannot be calculated when indicator taxa are not captured. Thus, an extension of the BQI that incorporates more macroinvertebrate taxa is desirable. We used 2 statistical approaches (Detrended Correspondence Analysis and Weighted Averaging) to estimate new benthic quality indicator scores for profundal macroinvertebrate taxa and to construct modified BQIs called Profundal Invertebrate Community Metrics (PICMs). We calibrated the PICMs …
Trophic Transfer of Trace Elements in an Isotopically Constructed Food Chain From a Semi-enclosed Marine Coastal Area (Stagnone di Marsala, Sicily, M…
2012
Trace element accumulation is particularly important in coastal and transitional environments, which act as contaminant buffers between the continental and marine systems. We compared trace element transfer to the biota in two locations with different open-sea exposures in a semi-enclosed marine coastal area (Stagnone di Marsala, Sicily, Italy) using isotopically reconstructed food chains. Samples of sediment, macroalgae, seagrasses, invertebrates, fish, and bird feathers were sampled in July 2006 and analysed for stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes (δ(13)C, δ(15)N) and trace elements (arsenic [As], cadmium [Cd], total mercury [THg], and lead [Pb]). Trophic magnification factors were calcul…
Effects of Sulfamethoxazole on Fertilization and Embryo Development in the Arbacia lixula Sea Urchin
2022
To date, drugs released into the aquatic environment are a real problem, and among antibiotics, sulfamethoxazole is the one most widely found in wastewater; thus, the evaluation of its toxicity on marine organisms is very important. This study, for the first time, investigates the in vitro effects of 4 concentrations of sulfamethoxazole (0.05 mg/L, 0.5 mg/L, 5 mg/L, 50 mg/L) on the fertilization and development of the sea urchin Arbacia lixula. The gametes were exposed to drugs in three different stages: simultaneously with, prior to, and post-fertilization. The results show a significant reduction in the percentage of fertilized oocytes at the highest drug concentrations. Moreover, an incr…
Alterations in Daphnia magna exposed to enniatin B and beauvericin provide additional value as environmental indicators
2022
Mycotoxins beauvericin (BEA) and enniatin B (ENN B) affect negatively several systems and demand more studies as the mechanisms are still unclear. The simultaneous presence of contaminants in the environment manifests consequences of exposure for both animals and flora. Daphnia magna is considered an ideal invertebrate to detect effects of toxic compounds and environmental alterations. In this study, the potential toxicity and the basic mechanism of BEA and ENN B individually and combined were studied in D. magna. Acute and delayed toxicity were evaluated, and transcript levels of genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism (mox, gst, abcb1, and abcc5), reproduction, and oxidative stress (vtg-S…
The Riverine Organism Drift Imager: A new technology to study organism drift in rivers and streams
2023
1. Drift or downstream dispersal is a fundamental process in the life cycle of many riverine organisms. In the face of rapidly declining freshwater biodiversity, there is a need to enhance our capacity to study the drift of riverine organisms, by overcoming the limitations of traditional labour-intensive sampling methods that result in data of low temporal and spatial resolution. 2. To address this need, we developed a new technology, the Riverine Organism Drift Imager (RODI), which combines in situ imaging with machine-learning classification. This technique expands on the traditional methodology by replacing the collection cup of a drift net with a camera system that continuously images r…
Sulfate sensitivity of aquatic organism in soft freshwaters explored by toxicity tests and species sensitivity distribution
2023
Elevated concentrations of sulfate in waterways are observed due to various anthropogenic activities. Elevated levels of sulfate can have harmful effects on aquatic life in freshwaters: sulfate can cause osmotic stress or specific ion toxicity in aquatic organisms, especially in soft waters where Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations are low. Formerly, chronic toxicity test data in soft water have been scarce. The chronic and acute sulfate toxicity tests conducted with aquatic organisms from 10 families across various trophic levels in this study multiplied the number of tests conducted in soft freshwater conditions and enabled derivation of the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) and sulfate haz…
Flotsam samples can help explain the δ13C and δ15N values of invertebrate resting stages in lake sediment
2018
Abstract The stable isotopic composition of chitinous remains of Cladocera (water fleas) and freshwater Bryozoa (moss animals) preserved in lake sediment records can provide supporting insights into past environmental and ecosystem changes in lakes. Here we explore whether analyses of these remains isolated from lake flotsam can provide information on the driving variables affecting the isotopic composition of these remains. We collected flotsam in 53 lakes and found enough material in 33 lakes to measure the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (expressed as δ13C and δ15N values, respectively) of resting stages. These values were compared with lake characteristics, water chemistry mea…
Anti-inflammatory activity in selected Antarctic benthic organisms
2014
Antarctic benthos was prospected in search for anti-inflammatory activity in polar benthic invertebrates, in two different geographical areas: deep-bottoms of the Eastern Weddell Sea and shallow-waters of the South Shetland Islands. A total of 36 benthic algae and invertebrate species were selected to perform solubility tests in order to obtain extracts that were soluble at an innocuous ethanol concentration (0.2%) for cell culture, and further test them for anti-inflammatory activity. From these, ethanol extracts of ten species from five different phyla resulted suitable to be studied in cell macrophage cultures (RAW 264.7). Cytotoxicity (MTT method) and production of inflammatory mediator…
Alusveden hapetuksen ja PHOSLOCK-käsittelyn vaikutukset Kymijärven syvännepohjaeläimistöön - vuoden 2012 tulokset.
2013
[Johdanto] Tämä toinen Kymijärven syvännepohjaeläimistöä koskeva tutkimus toteutettiin syksyllä 2012. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää järven kunnostustoimena toteutetun hapetuksen sekä kesällä 2012 suoritetun PHOSLOCK-käsittelyn vaikutuksia Kymijärven syvänteiden pohjaeläimistöön ja ekologiseen tilaan. Järven pohjoista Myllypohjan syvännettä on hapetettu kesästä 2008 alkaen hapekasta päällysvettä alusveteen pumppaavalla Mixox-hapettimella (Kukkonen 2011). Alkukesästä 2012 eteläisessä Lapinkiven syvänteessä on järven kunnostustoimena lisäksi toteutettu PHOSLOCK-käsittely, jossa bentoniittisaveen liitetyt lantaani kationit (La³⁺) sitovat pohjaan laskeutuessaan valtaosan veden reaktiiv…