Food quality effects on copepod growth and development: implications for bioassays in ecotoxicological testing.

We evaluated effects of six algal species in 25 combinations on growth and reproduction of the harpacticoid copepod Nitocra spinipes. In the first lifecycle test, Rhodomonas salina, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and Dunaliella tertiolecta were used. The results showed that R. salina was the best food, whereas P. tricornutum (0% development success) and D. tertiolecta (41.7% malformations) were poor food items. In the second lifecycle test, a mixture of R. salina, Tetraselmis suecica, and Thalassiosira weisflogii (selected from screening tests) was tested together with a mono-diet of R. salina. Also in this test, copepods fed R. salina performed better (i.e. had higher survival and reproductive success) compared with the other treatment. We conclude that R. salina is appropriate to use as food in toxicity testing with N. spinipes, whereas some of the algae commonly used as feed in ecotoxicological tests with other copepods had detrimental effects on the development, reproduction, and survival of N. spinipes.

[1]  G. McManus,et al.  Development and lipid composition of the harpacticoid copepod Nitocra spinipes reared on different diets , 1996 .

[2]  A. Ianora,et al.  Egg viability in the copepod Temora stylifera , 1993 .

[3]  M. Koski,et al.  Influence of diet on copepod survival in the laboratory , 2003 .

[4]  D. Nanton,et al.  The effects of dietary fatty acids on the fatty acid composition of the harpacticoid copepod, Tisbe sp., for use as a live food for marine fish larvae , 1998 .

[5]  N. Fisher,et al.  Reproductive toxicity of metals in calanoid copepods , 2001 .

[6]  S. Satapoomin,et al.  Carbon content of some common tropical Andaman Sea copepods , 1999 .

[7]  T. Williams,et al.  Life‐cycle studies with marine copepods (Tisbe battagliai) exposed to 20‐hydroxyecdysone and diethylstilbestrol , 1999 .

[8]  H. Harvey,et al.  Trophic transfer of fatty acids, sterols, and a triterpenoid alcohol between bacteria, a ciliate, and the copepod Acartia tonsa , 1995 .

[9]  E. Gorokhova,et al.  Application of growth-related sublethal endpoints in ecotoxicological assessments using a harpacticoid copepod. , 2006, Aquatic toxicology.

[10]  M. Viitasalo,et al.  Reproduction and survival of the calanoid copepod Eurytemora affinis fed with toxic and non-toxic cyanobacteria , 1999 .

[11]  V. Smetácek,et al.  Aldehyde suppression of copepod recruitment in blooms of a ubiquitous planktonic diatom , 2004, Nature.

[12]  K. Tang,et al.  Trophic modification of food quality by heterotrophic protists: species-specific effects on copepod egg production and egg hatching , 2005 .

[13]  I. Buttino,et al.  Is postembryonic development in the copepod Temora stylifera negatively affected by diatom diets , 2002 .

[14]  H. Andersen,et al.  Development of copepod nauplii to copepodites—a parameter for chronic toxicity including endocrine disruption , 2001, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[15]  D. Nanton,et al.  The effects of temperature and dietary fatty acids on the fatty acid composition of harpacticoid copepods, for use as a live food for marine fish larvae , 1999 .

[16]  E. Gorokhova,et al.  Analysis of nucleic acids in Daphnia: development of methods and ontogenetic variations in RNA-DNA content , 2002 .

[17]  K. Lang.  Monographie der Harpacticiden , 1948 .

[18]  H. Jakobsen,et al.  Life-stage-specific differences in exploitation of food mixtures: diet mixing enhances copepod egg production but not juvenile development , 2006 .

[19]  M. F. Payne,et al.  Evaluation of diets for culture of the calanoid copepod Gladioferens imparipes , 2000 .

[20]  R. Mayer,et al.  Development of an optimal microalgal diet for the culture of the calanoid copepod Acartia sinjiensis: Effect of algal species and feed concentration on copepod development , 2005 .

[21]  D. Gatlin,et al.  Nutritional evaluation of fatty acids for the open thelycum shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei: I. Effect of dietary linoleic and linolenic acids at different concentrations and ratios on juvenile shrimp growth, survival and fatty acid composition , 2003 .

[22]  F. Wulff.  Experimental studies on physiological and behavioural response mechanisms of Nitocra spinipes (Crustacea: Harpacticoidea) from brackish-water rockpools , 1972 .

[23]  K. O. Kusk,et al.  Fully defined saltwater medium for cultivation of and toxicity testing with marine copepod Acartia tonsa , 1999 .

[24]  Magnus Breitholtz,et al.  A practical ranking system to compare toxicity of anti-fouling paints. , 2006, Marine pollution bulletin.

[25]  G. Chandler,et al.  An enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay for lipovitellin quantification in copepods: A screening tool for endocrine toxicity , 2004, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[26]  Georg Pohnert,et al.  Diatom/Copepod Interactions in Plankton: The Indirect Chemical Defense of Unicellular Algae , 2005, Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology.

[27]  H. Dam,et al.  Influence of two different green algal diets on specific dynamic action and incorporation of carbon into biochemical fractions in the copepod Acartia tonsa , 2002 .

[28]  M. Koski,et al.  Effect of food quality on rate of growth and development of the pelagic copepod Pseudocalanus elongatus (Copepoda, Calanoida) , 1998 .

[29]  Guk-Rwang Won.  American Society for Testing and Materials , 1987 .

[30]  Sebastiaan W. Rampen,et al.  Role of essential lipids in copepod nutrition: no evidence for trophic upgrading of food quality by a marine ciliate , 2004 .

[31]  B. Bengtsson.  Use of a harpacticoid copepod in toxicity tests , 1978 .

[32]  F. Carlotti,et al.  Influence of algal diet on growth and ingestion of Calanus helgolandicus nauplii , 2001 .

[33]  P. Sorgeloos,et al.  Effects of feeding (ω-3) HUFA-enriched Artemia during a progressively increasing period on the larviculture of freshwater prawns , 1995, Aquaculture International.

[34]  Victor Smetacek,et al.  Architecture and material properties of diatom shells provide effective mechanical protection , 2003, Nature.

[35]  M. Cabrini,et al.  The insidious effect of diatoms on copepod reproduction , 1999, Nature.

[36]  A. Nassogne.  Influence of food organisms on the development and culture of pelagic copepods , 1970, Helgoländer wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen.

[37]  Dae-sik Hwang,et al.  Acute toxicities of trace metals and common xenobiotics to the marine copepod Tigriopus japonicus: Evaluation of its use as a benchmark species for routine ecotoxicity tests in Western Pacific coastal regions , 2007, Environmental toxicology.

[38]  S. Klosterhaus,et al.  A comparative assessment of azinphosmethyl bioaccumulation and toxicity in two estuarine meiobenthic harpacticoid copepods , 2003, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[39]  A. lanora,et al.  Do diatoms arrest embryonic development in cope-pods? , 1994 .

[40]  S. Tanskanen.  Seasonal variability in the individual carbon content of the calanoid copepod Acartia bifilosa from the northern Baltic Sea , 2004, Hydrobiologia.

[41]  U. Båmstedt,et al.  Algal constraints on copepod grazing. Growth state, toxicity, cell size, and season as regulating factors , 1995 .

[42]  T. Kiørboe,et al.  Copepod recruitment and food composition: do diatoms affect hatching success? , 1996 .

[43]  S. F. Umani,et al.  The paradox of diatom-copepod interactions* , 1997 .

[44]  G. Kattner,et al.  New evidence of the copepod maternal food effects on reproduction. , 2001, Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology.

[45]  K. Flynn,et al.  Nutritional Status and Diet Composition Affect the Value of Diatoms as Copepod Prey , 2005, Science.

[46]  P. Tester,et al.  Toxic marine phytoplankton, zooplankton grazers, and pelagic food webs , 1997 .

[47]  M. Breitholtz,et al.  Oestrogens have no hormonal effect on the development and reproduction of the harpacticoid copepod Nitocra spinipes. , 2001, Marine pollution bulletin.

[48]  A. Ianora,et al.  The diatom Thalassiosira rotula affects reproductive success in the copepod Acartia clausi , 1996 .