WA5 Making Ecotoxicology Studies Relevant
Room 17A/B, Level 4
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Wednesday, 12 November 2003
Chair: Adams, Marshall ,
(366) Use of biomarkers for assign pollution-induced population tolerance in isopods: linking levels of biological organization.
Drobne, D1, Sepcic, K2, Drobne, S3, Zidar, P4, Strus, J5, Macek, P6, Simcic, T7, Brancelj, A8, Trebse, P9, 1 Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, SLOVENIA2 Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, SLOVENIA3 Faculty of Civil and Geodetic engineering, University of Ljubljana, SLOVENIA4 Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, SLOVENIA5 Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, SLOVENIA6 Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, SLOVENIA7 National Institue of Biology, Ljubljana, SLOVENIA8 National Institue of Biology, Ljubljana, SLOVENIA9 Laboratory for Environmental Research, Nova Gorica Polytechnic, Nova Gorica, SLOVENIA
ABSTRACT- Assessment of pollution-induced community tolerance is based on the hypothesis that organisms respond to stress by either avoidance, acclimation or death. Stress usually results in the replacement of sensitive individuals by those that are more tolerant. Increased tolerance of communities at stresses sites compared to the baseline tolerance at reference sites suggests adverse affects by toxicants. The objectives of our studies are to link the mechanistic bases of stress effects to biologically-significant effects at higher levels of biological organization under controlled laboratory conditions and to select and identify subsets of biomarkers that can be used for pollution-induced population tolerance assessment. Studies were conducted on terrestrial (Porcellio scaber ) and aquatic (Asellus aquaticus) isopods. Isopods play an important role in decomposition of organic matter by fragmentation of dead plant material. In our studies, feeding rate, energetic reserves (lipids, glycogen, proteins), histological parameters (morphometric analyses of digestive glands), respiratory electron transport system (ETS) activity and behavioral parameters are coupled with biochemical (activity of AChE, GST, GRx, GPx) biomarkers to investigate relationships between levels of biological organization. A link was established between biomarkers at different levels of biological organization for testing toxicity of an organophosphorus pesticide and two metals with different mode of toxic action (copper and cadmium). These types of studies can serve as a model to investigate the impact of pollutants on the physiology and performance of individuals. In addition, we propose a set of biomarkers to be used for quantification of pollution-induced population tolerance of populations to assess the effects of toxicants in biotic communities.
Key words: isopods, biomarkers, metals, organophosphorus pesticides