Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-30T20:56:58.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dynamics of rotifer and cladoceran resting stages during copper pollution and recovery in a subalpine lake

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2012

Roberta Piscia ,
Piero Guilizzoni ,
Diego Fontaneto ,
Davide A.L. Vignati ,
Peter G. Appleby  and
Marina Manca
Roberta Piscia*
Affiliation:
CNR ISE Largo Tonolli 50, 28922 Verbania, Italy
Piero Guilizzoni
Affiliation:
CNR ISE Largo Tonolli 50, 28922 Verbania, Italy
Diego Fontaneto
Affiliation:
Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
Davide A.L. Vignati
Affiliation:
CNR IRSA, UOS Brugherio, Via del Mulino 19, 20047 Brugherio (MB), Italy
Peter G. Appleby
Affiliation:
Environmental Radioactivity Research Centre, Mathematical Sciences Building, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZL, UK
Marina Manca
Affiliation:
CNR ISE Largo Tonolli 50, 28922 Verbania, Italy
*
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Despite their ecological importance and ability to react to environmental changes, including pollution, monogonont rotifers have never been used in palaeolimnological studies because they do not leave subfossil remains. In this study, we tested the possibility of using rotifer resting eggs as a proxy for reconstruction of changes in biodiversity during chronic copper pollution and recovery of a deep sudalpine lake (Lake Orta, Italy). The lake was selected owing to a rich history of previous studies that explored species-specific responses to environmental stressors. Rotifer-based results were compared with those on ephippia and on previously investigated Cladocera subfossil remains. Responses of Rotifera resting eggs to environmental changes were clear and consistent with those previously observed on Cladocera. The abundance of resting eggs increased during pollution, and new morphotypes appeared in addition to those already present. However, overall diversity decreased sharply, as a few morphotypes became dominant. Resting eggs of Brachionus calyciflorus as old as ca. 100 years were still fully viable; viability was not affected by toxic conditions of the environment in which the eggs were produced. Over a period of ca. 80 years, all resting eggs of B. calyciflorus belonged to a single clone, the most widely distributed one in North America. Cladocera ephippia started to accumulate later and at a lower level of abundance than rotifer resting eggs. Overall, Cladocera ephippia were, however, less effective than rotifers in tracing lake historical changes. The results point out at the great potential of using rotifer resting eggs in palaeolimnological reconstructions.

Keywords

BiodiversityCladocerarotifer resting eggscopper pollutionrecovery
Type
Research Article
Information
Annales de Limnologie - International Journal of Limnology , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , 2012 , pp. 151 - 160
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appleby, P.G., 2002. Chronostratigraphic techniques in recent sediments. In: Last, W.M. and Smol, I.P. (eds.), Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Volume 1. Springer Netherlands, 171–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appleby, P.G. and Oldfield, F., 1978. The calculation of lead-210 dates assuming a constant rate of supply of unsupported 210Pb to the sediments. Catena, 5, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appleby, P.G., Nolan, P.J., Gifford, D.W., Godfrey, M.J., Oldfield, F., Anderson, N.J. and Battarbee, R.W., 1986. 210Pb dating by low background gamma counting. Hydrobiologia, 141, 21–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appleby, P.G., Richardson, N. and Nolan, P.J., 1992. Self-absorption corrections for well-type germanium detectors. Nucl. Instrum.  Methods B, 71, 228–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bachiorri, A., Rossi, V. and Menozzi, P., 1991. Differences in demographic parameters among electrophoretric clones of Daphnia obtusa Kurz (Crustacea, Cladocera). Hydrobiologia, 225, 263–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonacina, C. and Baudo, R. (Guests eds), 2001. Lake Orta: a case study. J. Limnol., 60, 166 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brett, M.T., 1989. Zooplankton communities and acidification processes: a review. Water Air Soil Pollut., 44, 387–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cáceres, C.E., 1998. Interspecific variation in the abundance, production, and emergence of Daphnia diapausing eggs. Ecology, 79, 1699–1710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calderoni, A., Mosello, R., Quirci, A. and de Bernardi, R., 1990. Recovery of Lake Orta by liming. Proceedings of theVII International Lime Congress, Rome, September 13–14, 1990, 157–171.Google Scholar
Calderoni, A. and Tartari, G.A., 2001. Evolution of the water chemistry of Lake Orta after liming. J. Limnol., 60, 69–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cattaneo, A., Asioli, A., Comoli, P. and Manca, M., 1998. Organisms’ response in a chronically polluted lake supports hypothesized link between stress and size. Limnol. Oceanogr., 43, 1938–1943.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chick, J.H., Levchuk, A.P., Medley, K.A. and Havel, J.H., 2010. Underestimation of rotifer abundance, a much greater problem than previously appreciated. Limnol. Oceanogr. Methods, 44, 79–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, W.E. Jr., 1974. Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: comparison with other methods. J. Sed. Petrol., 44, 242–248.Google Scholar
Duggan, I.C., Green, J.D. and Russell, J.S., 2002. Rotifer resting egg densities in lakes of different trophic state, and their assessment using emergence and egg counts. Arch. Hydrobiol., 153, 409–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folmer, O., Black, M., Hoeh, W., Lutz, R. and Vrijenhoek, R., 1994. DNA primers for amplification of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 from diverse metazoan invertebrates. Mar. Biotechnol., 3, 294–299.Google Scholar
Frey, D.G., 1986. Cladocera analysis. In: Berglund, B.E. (ed.), Handbook of Holocene Paleoecology and Paleohydrobiology, Wiley and Sons, New York, 667–692.Google Scholar
Fu, Y., 1991. Studies on genetic variations of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis O.F. Müller. PhD Thesis, Nagasaki University, 144.Google Scholar
Gama-Flores, J.L. and Castellanos-Paez, M.E., 2007. Effect of pulsed exposure to heavy metals (copper and cadmium) on some population variables of Brachionus calyciflorus Pallas (Rotifera: Brachionide: Monogononta). Hydrobiologia, 593, 201–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, J.J., 1974. Dormancy in rotifers. Trans. Am. Microsc. Soc., 93, 490–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, J.J., 1980. Female polymorphism and sexual reproduction in the rotifer Asplanchna: evolution of their relationship and control by dietary tocopherol. Am. Nat., 116, 409–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, J.J., 1995. Structure, development and induction of a new diapause stage in rotifers. Freshwat. Biol., 34, 263–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, J.J. and Schröder, T., 2004. Rotifers from diapausing, fertilized eggs: unique features and emergence. Limnol. Oceanogr., 49, 1341–1354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, J.J. and Walsh, E.J., 2005. Brachionus calyciflorus is a species complex: mating behavior and genetic differentiation among four geographically isolated strains. Hydrobiologia, 546, 257–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hairston, N.G. Jr., 1996. Zooplankton egg banks as biotic reservoirs in changing environments. Limnol. Oceanogr., 41, 1087–1092.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hairston, N.G. Jr., Van Brunt, R.A., Kearns, C.M. and Engstrom, D.R., 1995. Age and survivorship of diapausing eggs in a sediment egg bank. Ecology, 76, 1706–1711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Havas, M., Woodfine, D.G., Lutz, P., Young, K., MacIsaac, H.I. and Hutchinson, T.C., 1995. Biological recovery of two previously acidified, metal-contaminated lakes near Sudbury Ontario, Canada. Water Air Soil Pollut., 85, 791–796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeppesen, E., Jensen, J.P., Lauridsen, T.L., Amsinck, S.L., Christoffersen, K., Søndergaard, M. and Mitchell, S.F., 2003. Sub-fossils of cladocerans in the surface sediment of 135 lakes as proxies for community structure of zooplankton, fish abundance and lake temperature. Hydrobiologia, 491, 321–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerfoot, W.C., Robbins, J.A. and Weider, L.J., 1999. A new approach to historical reconstruction: combining descriptive and experimental paleolimnology. Limnol. Oceanogr., 44, 1232–1247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirk, K.L., 1997. Life-history responses to variable environments: starvation and reproduction in planktonic rotifers. Ecology, 78, 434–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koste, W., 1978. Rotatoria. Die Rädertiere Mitteleuropas. Ein Bestimmungswerk, begründet von Max Voigt. Überordnung Monogononta 2. Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin, Stuttgart, 673.
Li, L., Niu, C. and Ma, R., 2010. Rapid temporal succession identified by COI of the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus Pallas in Xihai Pond,Beijing, China, in relation to ecological traits. J. Plankton Res., 32, 951–959.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manca, M. and Comoli, P., 1995. Temporal variations of fossils Cladocera in the sediments ofLake Orta (N. Italy) over the last 400 years. J. Paleolimnol., 14, 113–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morabito, G., 2001. Six years (1992–1997) evolution of phytoplankton communities inLake Orta (N. Italy) after the recovery by liming. Lakes Reserv. Res. Manage. 6, 305–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nevalainen, L., Luoto, T.P., Levine, S. and Manca, M., 2011. Paleolimnological evidence for increased sexual reproduction in chydorids (Chydoridae, Cladocera) under environmental stress. J. Limnol., 70, 255–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nipkow, F., 1961. Die Rädertiere im Plankton des Zürichsees und ihre Entwicklungsphasen. Schweiz Z. Hydrol., 23, 398–461.Google Scholar
Onbé, T., 1978. Sugar flotation method for sorting the resting eggs of marine Cladocerans and Copepods from sea-bottom sediment. Bull. Jpn. Soc. Fish. Oceanogr., 44, 1411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pielou, E.C., 1966. Species-diversity and pattern-diversity in the study of ecological succession. J. Theor. Biol., 10, 370–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ponti, B., Piscia, R., Bettinetti, R. and Manca, M., 2010. Long-term adaptation of Daphnia to toxic environment in Lake Orta: the effects of short-term exposure to copper and acidification. J. Limnol., 69, 217–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, N.L., Morley, D., Appleby, P.G., Battarbee, R.W., Alliksaar, T., Guilizzoni, P., Jeppesen, E., Korhola, A., Punning, J.-M., 2011. Sediment accumulation rates in European lakes since AD 1850: trends, reference conditions and exceedence. J. Paleolimnol., 45, 447–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarmaja-Korjonen, K., 2004. Chydorid ephippia as indicators of past environmental changes – a new method. Hydrobiologia, 526, 129–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shannon, C.E. and Wiener, W., 1963. The Mathematical Theory of Communities. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL, USA, 117.Google Scholar
Steinberg, A., Ejsmont-Karabin, J., Muirhead, J.R. and MacIsaac, H.J., 2009. Spatial and temporal stability of rotifer communities. Hydrobiologia, 624, 107–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sudzuki, M., 1964. New systematical approach to the Japanese planktonic Rotatoria. Hydrobiologia, 23, 1–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

OLM - limn110024 - 48(2) 2012 p.151 - Dynamics of rotifer and cladoceran...

Appendix 1

Download OLM - limn110024 - 48(2) 2012 p.151 - Dynamics of rotifer and cladoceran...(PDF)
PDF 173.6 KB