Abstract
Field observations on temperature and pH of a small pond showed that a amphipod population of Hyalella azteca was exposed to variable seasonal pH between 5.10–5.85, and water temperatures between 2–21 °C. Laboratory experiments were designed to simulate seasonal temperatures and field pHs of a small pond habitat. Laboratory bioassay experiments were conducted to determine the survival of Hyalella azteca at pHs 4, 5, 6 and 7, and varying temperatures of 5°, 10°, 15°, 20° and 25 °C.
The LT100 at pH 4 and 25 °C was 5.7 ± 0.47 days, compared to 47.3 ± 2.49 days at 5 °C. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed temperature was a significant (p > 0.0001) source of variation in the acute lethality of pH to H. azteca. A Duncans Multiple Range Test (DMRT) further showed that in laboratory experiments at pH 4, there was a significant difference (α = 0.01) between the LT100s at 5°, 10°, 15° and 20 °C, but not between temperatures 20° and 25 °C.
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Pilgrim, W., Burt, M.D.B. Effect of acute pH depression on the survival of the freshwater amphipod Hyalella azteca at variable temperatures: field and laboratory studies. Hydrobiologia 254, 91–98 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00014312
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00014312