Abstract
Cadmium and copper toxicity was investigated using bioassays with neonates of a freshwater gastropod Physa acuta. Mortality, lethal time, and effects on shell length were studied during 28-day chronic exposure experiments. Relative toxicity was assessed from acute and chronic LC values. Copper showed significantly more toxicity at lower concentrations than cadmium (\(p\) < 0.001), causing mortality at the same response levels. Conversely, cadmium affected shell length at lower concentrations than copper, although no significant differences (\(p\) > 0.05) were found in affected shell length between copper and cadmium at the end of the assays. Lethal time (LT\(_{50}\)) was significantly affected by metal concentration (\(p\) < 0.001), with a reduction of 8.28% and 5.90% in time per 0.001 mg/L increase of copper and cadmium, respectively. Physa acuta neonates showed medium to high sensitivity to cadmium and copper compared to other freshwater gastropod species, showing it is a suitable test organism, particularly for chronic ecotoxicological assessment.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Faculty of Exact Science of the National University of La Plata (FCEx-UNLP) for providing the space to conduct the experiments involved in this article. Furthermore, we thank Prof Amanda Reichelt-Brushett from Southern Cross University (SCU) in Australia, for kindly assisting with the English editing, and to the reviewers whose valuable observations helped us improve our manuscript.
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Bálsamo Crespo, E., Bulus Rossini, G. Comparative Assessment of Cadmium and Copper Toxicity to Physa acuta (Draparnaud, 1805). Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 107, 378–384 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03196-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03196-6