Abstract
Both structural and functional relationships were investigated in experiments using S. capricornutum populations and an indigenous microbial community. Our aims were to diagnose cellular stress and to predict recovery during exposures to a chlor-alkali effluent.
Laboratory experiments demonstrated that the effluent was toxic at concentrations greater or equal to 4%, v/v. It appears that during the exposure period, the functional parameters, particularly the intracellular adenylates ratios were reliable in predicting algal population recovery.
On the other hand, the river gradient experiments failed to demonstrate a toxic effect on community structure over the time scale studied. Functional parameters revealed a significant effect on photosynthetic activity while adenylate energy charge was an insensitive indicator.
Finally, our results tend to demonstrate that functional responses, particularly intracellular adenylates ratios (ATP/cell; ATP/AMP) are appropriate to predict recovery responses to a toxicant at the population and community levels. This would prove useful in enhancing the ecological significance of toxicity tests in hazard assessment.
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Couture, P., Thellen, C. & Thompson, P.A. Phytoplankton recovery responses at the population and community levels in a hazard and risk assessment study. Hydrobiologia 188, 269–276 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027792
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027792