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Acartia tonsa Dana 1849 as a Model Organism: Considerations on Acclimation in Ecotoxicological Assays

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Abstract

The copepod Acartia tonsa was standardized as model organism in acute toxicity bioassays due to its key position in coastal food chains and high sensitivity. Once bioassays are performed according to a protocol their results may become tools for the protection of aquatic ecosystems. However, there are divergences in bioassays methods using A. tonsa. This study aimed to investigate: (i) the need for acclimation of A. tonsa collected from the environment for use in acute toxicological bioassays; and (ii) differences in sensitivity between copepods collected from the environment and laboratory-grown copepods. Laboratory-grown copepods are more sensitive to SDS than A. tonsa from the environment. The acclimation time of 30 h helped organisms to recover from stress of collection/handling and changing environment/conditions. Therefore, laboratory-grown copepods showed to be more sensitive than organisms from environment; and for ecotoxicological bioassays acclimating A. tonsa collected from the environment for 30 h can be adopted.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank the Phytoplankton and Microorganism, the CONECO laboratories, and the EMA, all from the Federal University of Rio Grande. We also acknowledge the aid of Dr. Grasiela Lopes Leão Pinho, Dr. Paul Gerhard Kinas, Dr. Renato Mitsuo, and Dr.Paulo José Duarte-Neto on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) granting scholarships to L.F.P.L (M.Sc. – 132549/2015-8).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Zooplâncton - Instituto de Oceanografia da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG), Av. Itália, s/n km 8, Campus Carreiros, Caixa Postal 474, Rio Grande, RS, 96203-900, Brazil

    Laís Fernanda de Palma Lopes & Erik Muxagata

  2. Laboratório de Microcontaminantes Orgânicos e Ecotoxicologia Aquática (CONECO), Instituto de Oceanografia da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG), Programa de Pós-graduação em Oceanologia (PPGO), Rio Grande, Brazil

    Vanessa Ochi Agostini

  3. Núcleo de Ecotoxicologia e Ecologia Aplicada (NEEA), no Centro de Recursos Hídricos e Estudos Ambientais (CRHEA), da Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/USP), Itirapina, São Paulo, Brazil

    Raquel Aparecida Moreira

Authors
  1. Laís Fernanda de Palma Lopes
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  2. Vanessa Ochi Agostini
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  3. Raquel Aparecida Moreira
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  4. Erik Muxagata
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Contributions

The conception and design were developed by Laís Fernanda de Palma Lopes, Vanessa O. Agostini and Erik Muxagata. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Laís Fernanda de Palma Lopes. The original draft preparation was written by Laís Fernanda de Palma Lopes and all authors contributed to the study writing (review and editing). All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The supervision of this study was conducted by Erik Muxagata.

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Correspondence to Laís Fernanda de Palma Lopes.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Since this paper does not fall fully within the Aims and Scope of BECT, due to the lack of confirmation of nominal concentrations analytically, it was decided that it should be accepted as a “Concept Note” since it contained some appealing data for our readership. Interestingly, this paper highlights the difference in the sensitivity between A. tonsa collected from the environment and laboratory grown copepods used in aquatic bioassays and the importance of acclimating the collected copepods before exposure. These data further verify the usefulness of using natural populations to confirm if laboratory-based cultures are representative of organisms from the environment.

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Lopes, L.F.P., Agostini, V.O., Moreira, R.A. et al. Acartia tonsa Dana 1849 as a Model Organism: Considerations on Acclimation in Ecotoxicological Assays. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 106, 734–739 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03175-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03175-x

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