Reduction of recruitment of Acartia pacifica nauplii from benthic resting eggs due to organochlorine pesticides

Article type: Research Article

Authors: JIANG, Xiao-dong^; | WANG, Gui-zhong | LI, Shao-jing

Affiliations: SOA Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China | Department of Oceanography, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Many estuarine and coastal planktonic copepods depend on the hatching of benthic resting eggs for recruitment of nauplii to the water column population. The potential effects of two organochlorine pesticides, hexchloriobinzene (HCH) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), on the recruitment of Acartia pacifica nauplii from benthic resting eggs in the seabed of Xiamen Bay were experimentally investigated. The abundance of A. pacifica nauplii hatched from the sediment significantly decreased with the increase of pesticide concentration. Trimmed Spearman-Karber analysis gave sediment 96-h LC_{50} values were 84.81 ng/g for HCH, and 157.94 ng/g for DDT. The median AI (AI_{50}) was −0.77, which suggested that the combined effect of HCH and DDT showed a weak effect than individual effects. There was a positive relationship between mortality and exposure time in DDT treatment, while the relationship was not significant in HCH treatment. The results suggest that organochlorine pesticides can reduce recruitment of A. pacifica nauplii from benthic resting eggs to planktonic population.

Keywords: organochlorine pesticide, resting egg, recruitment, A cartia pacifica

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 552-556, 2006