New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Short communication
Zinc sulfate and atrazine toxicity to the marine harpacticoid copepod Robertsonia propinqua
Lisa A. Hack1,2,3
Louis A. Tremblay3
Steve D. Wratten1
Guy Forrester3
Vaughan Keesing4
1 National Centre for Advanced Bio-Protection Technologies
Lincoln University
P.O. Box 84
Canterbury, New Zealand
email: hackl@landcareresearch.co.nz
2 Boffa Miskell Ltd
P.O. Box 91 250
Auckland, New Zealand
3 Landcare Research Ltd
Private Bag 92 170
Auckland, New Zealand
and P.O. Box 40, Lincoln, New Zealand
4 Boffa Miskell Ltd
P.O. Box 110
Christchurch, New Zealand
Abstract Nauplii and adults of Robertsonia propinqua, a marine sediment-dwelling copepod, were used in 96-h static range-finder toxicity tests to assess the lethal concentration at which 50% of test organisms are killed (LC50) by atrazine (a herbicide) and zinc sulfate. Atrazine and zinc sulfate were used at concentrations near LC50 values published for crustaceans. LC50 values for R. propinqua nauplii were 7.5 mg/litre for atrazine and 1.7 mg/litre for zinc sulfate, respectively. For R. propinqua adults, the corresponding values were 31.8 mg/ litre for atrazine and 2.7 mg/litre for zinc sulfate. Robertsonia propinqua nauplii were more sensitive than adult life stages to exposure to both compounds, implying that the juvenile life stages are more sensitive to pollutants. These tests provided some evidence that both atrazine and zinc sulfate may be affecting the reproduction of R. propinqua owing to the reduced juvenile survival rates in the acute tests. The data for atrazine and zinc sulfate have important implications for the development of R. propinqua as a bioindicator of aquatic contamination. The range-finding LC50 results provide the basis for the determination of a realistic environmental concentration gradient for application in future definitive LC50 and chronic full life cycle toxicity tests.
Keywords contaminants; 96-h LC50; bioindicator; estuaries; New Zealand
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2008, Vol. 42: 93–98
0028–8330/08/4201–0093 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2008
M07013; Online publication date 11 March 2008
Received 1 March 2007; accepted 22 November 2007
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