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Effects of increased temperatures on Gammarus fossarum under the influence of copper sulphate

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Abstract

The specialised fauna of freshwater springs will have to cope with a possible temperature rise owing to Global Change. It is affected additionally by contamination of the water with xenobiotics from human activities in the surrounding landscape. We assessed the combined effects of temperature increase and exposure to toxins in laboratory experiments by using copper sulphate as a model substance and Gammarus fossarum Koch, 1835, as the model organism. This amphipod is a common representative of the European spring fauna and copper ions are widespread contaminants, mainly from agricultural practice. The experiments were conducted in boxes placed in flow channels and the water temperatures were varied. The gammarids were fed with conditioned beech leaf discs. The feeding activity of the amphipods was quantified on the level of the organism; and the respiratory electron transport system (ETS) assay was conducted in order to determine changes on the cellular level in the test organisms. The results show that the feeding activity increased slightly with higher water temperature. The sub-lethal copper dose had no significant effect other than a trend towards lower feeding activity. The ETS activity was significantly higher at the higher water temperatures, and the copper ions significantly lowered the ETS activity of the organisms. The combination of the two methods was useful when testing for combined effects of environmental changes and pollutants on a species. From the results one can reasonably infer a higher risk of adverse effects with increase in water temperature and exposure to a particular heavy metal.

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Acknowledgments

The Janggen-Pöhn-Stiftung supported the PhD project by partially financing the main author. T. Simcic kindly introduced us to the ETS method. C. Clarke proof-read the manuscript. Thanks are owing to five anonymous reviewers, who made valuable comments on the manuscript. Thanks are also owing to further numerous people, especially to the first author’s family for valuable technical support and discussions.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Biogeography Research Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Vorstadt 10, 4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Lara Schmidlin, Stefanie von Fumetti & Peter Nagel

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  1. Lara Schmidlin
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  2. Stefanie von Fumetti
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Correspondence to Lara Schmidlin.

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Schmidlin, L., von Fumetti, S. & Nagel, P. Effects of increased temperatures on Gammarus fossarum under the influence of copper sulphate. Ecotoxicology 24, 433–444 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1392-6

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