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Analyzing retraction responses of Tubifex tubifex (Oligochaeta: Naididae) colonies to copper treatments through a digital image analysis approach for developing early biological warning systems

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Abstract

Biological monitoring and assessments are commonly used for sustainable ecosystem management. Oligochaetes are found in various freshwater ecosystems and have been used as indicators of water quality and for the biological assessment of aquatic ecosystems. Among aquatic oligochaetes, the sludge worm Tubifex tubifex (Oligochaeta, Naididae) is tolerant to organic pollution and has been used as a biomonitoring indicator of toxicity and organic pollution. In this study, we investigated the response of worm colonies to copper (CuSO4) treatments (0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mg/L) in an observation cage (100 mL beaker) for 30 min. Using a digital image analysis approach, we measured the changes in the colony image area between pre- and post-copper treatment. After copper treatment, the colony image area tended to decrease, even at low copper concentrations. In addition, the colony areas did not recover to their original levels at high concentrations, although those at low concentrations did. Area decreased proportional to the logarithm of the copper concentration. Finally, our results present the possible use of the retraction responses of Tubifex tubifex colonies to chemical disturbances as early biological warning systems.

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Funding

This work was supported by Korea Environment Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI) through Aquatic Ecosystem Conservation Research Program funded by Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) (KEITI-2020003050003) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (NRF-2013R1A1A2009494 and NRF-2019R1A2C1087099).

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  1. Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Dongdaemun, Seoul, 02447, Republic of Korea

    Dae-Seong Lee, Hyejin Kang & Young-Seuk Park

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Contributions

Conceptualization, Young-Seuk Park; methodology, Dae-Seong Lee, Hyejin Kang, and Young-Seuk Park; data curation and formal analysis, Dae-Seong Lee and Hyejin Kang; writing (original draft preparation), Young-Seuk Park and Dae-Seong Lee; writing (review and editing), Dae-Seong Lee, Hyejin Kang and Young-Seuk Park. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Young-Seuk Park.

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Lee, DS., Kang, H. & Park, YS. Analyzing retraction responses of Tubifex tubifex (Oligochaeta: Naididae) colonies to copper treatments through a digital image analysis approach for developing early biological warning systems. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 24559–24566 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32655-w

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