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Environmental stochasticity promotes copper bioaccumulation and bioenergetic response in tilapia

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Abstract

Environmental change not only undergoes in mean environmental conditions but also in their degree of stochasticity. Changes in waterborne metal variability are often associated with altered disturbance regimes and temporal patterns of source availability. Here copper (Cu) was used as an example because Cu sulfate (CuSO4) has been extensively used as a chemical tool to exterminate phytoplankton for controlling skin lesions and gill disease of fish in aquatic ecosystems. This study showed that increased variability of waterborne Cu concentrations strongly promotes a key process of biokinetics, bioaccumulation. In experimental tilapia populations, the mean growth cost coefficient in pulsed Cu exposures was 7 % lower than the control group. On the other hand, the double-pulse, constant low, and single-pulse scenarios had similar effect on biomass change (2.2–2.4 %). The greatest biomass change (~10 %) occurred where Cu concentrations were gradually increasing over time or at a constant high rate. Most importantly, this study demonstrated that chronic exposure of tilapia to a low Cu concentration rate that approximated a single large pulse of field-realistic levels damaged bioenergetic mechanisms and increased energy acquisition. This study also showed that interactions across multiple pulsed or fluctuating Cu exposures were involved in accumulation changes that could also be achieved by controlling pulse timing and duration. It can be concluded that increased metal variability can promote biokinetic and bioenergetic responses in fish; and that changes in environmental variability may interact with other global change processes and thereby substantially accelerate change in aquatic ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Council of Republic of China under Grant NSC 98-2628-B-002-090-MY3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Science and Environmental Biology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 80708, Taiwan, ROC

    Wei-Yu Chen

  2. Department of Bioenvironmental Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chungli, 32023, Taiwan, ROC

    Yun-Ru Ju

  3. Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC

    Chia-Jung Lin & Chung-Min Liao

  4. Department of Biological Science and Technology, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan, ROC

    Jeng-Wei Tsai

  5. Department of Public Health, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, 40242, Taiwan, ROC

    Szu-Cheih Chen

  6. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, 40242, Taiwan, ROC

    Szu-Cheih Chen

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  1. Wei-Yu Chen
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Correspondence to Wei-Yu Chen.

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Chen, WY., Ju, YR., Lin, CJ. et al. Environmental stochasticity promotes copper bioaccumulation and bioenergetic response in tilapia. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 29, 1545–1555 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-014-0993-1

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