Abstract
Microalgae are sensitive bioindicators in assessing the toxic effects of heavy metals. In this regard, the effects of prolonged exposure to copper on biotechnologically important soil microalgae have not been sufficiently studied. The work aimed to study copper’s action on soil microalgae: Vischeria magna, Botrydiopsis sp., and Tetracystis sp. in a 28-day experiment with different initial cell densities (× 103 and × 106 cell/mL) using CuSO4 and Cu(CH3COO)2 as the source of copper. It was found that the toxic effect of copper depends on its concentration, initial density of algae cells in testing, and the chemical source of copper. This research revealed that Tetracystis sp. had the highest resistance to copper, which withstood copper concentrations up to 50 mg/L. Botrydiopsis sp. and V. magna were resistant to copper concentrations of 30 mg/L and 5 mg/L, respectively. Copper appeared less toxic for the test with a higher cell density (× 106 cell/mL). It was also found that the toxic effect of copper was manifested at lower concentrations in experiments with CuSO4 compared to ones using Cu(CH3COO)2. The results of this study provide a better understanding of the effects of copper on soil microalgae species and their potential for biotechnological production using heavy metal waters, bioremediation, and monitoring of algae diversity, especially in soils contaminated by heavy metals.
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This publication is based on research carried out with financial support by Russian Science Foundation (project number 20-74-10076). Morphological descriptions of algal strains were maintained within the state assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (theme No. 122042700045-3).
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Y.M contributed to conceptualization, funding acquisition, project administration, writing the original draft; S.M contributed to data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, visualization, writing original draft; M.K contributed to conceptualization, methodology.
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Maltsev, Y., Maltseva, S. & Kulikovskiy, M. Toxic effect of copper on soil microalgae: experimental data and critical review. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 10903–10920 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-04766-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-04766-3