Laboratory-Based Comparison for the Effects of Environmental Stressors Supports Field Evidence for the Relative Importance of Pollution on Life History and Behavior of the Pond Snail, Lymnaea stagnalis

Biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate globally, with freshwater ecosystems particularly threatened. Field-based correlational studies have “ranked” stressors according to their relative effects on freshwater biota, however, supporting cause-effect data from laboratory exposures are lacking....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2021-07, Vol.55 (13), p.8806-8816
Main Authors: Moore, Emily M, Alexander, Mhairi E, Sloman, Katherine A, Pereira, M. Glória, Thacker, Sarah A, Orton, Frances
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Avoidance behavior
Biodiversity
Biota
Chronic effects
Contaminants in Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments
Crayfish
Embryos
Environmental stress
Exposure
Freshwater ecosystems
Hatching
Laboratories
Life history
Pacifastacus leniusculus
Physiological effects
Pollution effects
Pollution levels
Ponds
Population stability
Predators
Reproduction
Survival
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate globally, with freshwater ecosystems particularly threatened. Field-based correlational studies have “ranked” stressors according to their relative effects on freshwater biota, however, supporting cause-effect data from laboratory exposures are lacking. Here, we designed exposures to elicit chronic effects over equivalent exposure ranges for three ubiquitous stressors (temperature: 22–28 °C; pollution [14 component mixture]: 0.05–50 μg/L; invasive predator cue [signal crayfish, Pacifasticus leniusculus]: 25–100% cue) and investigated effects on physiological end points in the pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis). All stressors reduced posthatch survival at their highest exposure levels, however, highly divergent effects were observed at lower test levels. Temperature stimulated hatching, growth, and reproduction, whereas pollution delayed hatching, decreased growth, reduced egg number/embryo viability, and induced avoidance behavior. The invasive predator cue stimulated growth and reduced embryo viability. In agreement with field-based ranking of stressors, pollution was identified as having the most severe effects in our test system. We demonstrate here the utility of laboratory studies to effectively determine hierarchy of stressors according to their likelihood of causing harm in the field, which has importance for conservation. Finally, we report negative impacts on life-history traits central to population stability (survival/reproduction) at the lowest pollution level tested (0.05 μg/L).
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.1c01640