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Suitability of enzymatic markers to assess the environmental condition of natural populations of Gambusia affinis and Daphnia magna—a case study

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Abstract

In recent years, the use of biochemical markers, especially in the assessment of toxic effects and modes of action, under controlled laboratory conditions has increased. However, transposing their use to in situ monitoring or risk assessment evaluations has encountered barriers, mainly related to the difficulty in interpreting the meaning of biochemical variation. In this work, we aimed at understanding if biochemical marker activities (cholinesterase, glutathione S-transferase and lactate dehydrogenase) can be used to monitor the health status of natural populations of fish (Gambusia affinis) and daphnids (Daphnia magna). For that, two ponds with different water properties were chosen as study sites, and organisms collected at four sampling periods along the year. The pattern of biochemical marker responses was not the same in the two species, showing higher integrated biochemical marker response values in the winter for G. affinis and in the autumn for D. magna, suggesting specificities that must be taken into account in biomonitoring programmes by including representative species of several trophic levels. In the case of G. affinis, the differences in key physicochemical parameters between the two ponds (especially dissolved oxygen levels) did not seem to affect biochemical marker levels as if organisms were already perfectly adapted to their environment. In general, seasonal variation of water quality seems to have an important role on biochemical marker responses. Several parameters above Environmental Quality Standards were identified such as dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonia, nitrites, sulphides and metals, but eventual responses to these stressors could not be discriminated from natural variation except for particular cases.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by European Funds through COMPETE and National Funds through the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT), within projects PEst-C/MAR/LA0017/2013 and ClimatoxFCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027795 (Ref. PTDC/AAG-GLO/4059/2012) and through a post-Doc grant to Inês Domingues (SFRH/BPD/90521/2012) and a PhD grant to Luísa Machado (SFRH/BD/43936/2008). Cátia Santos is a PhD fellow of the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Ghent University (Ref. B/13833/01-BOF13/DOC/034). A.M.V.M. Soares is “Bolsista CAPES/BRASIL”, Project No. A058/2013. The authors also acknowledge the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Technology of Brazil through the program Science without Borders for the scholarship (BJT-A) provided to Rhaul Oliveira.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia & CESAM, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Inês Domingues, Cátia S. A. Santos, Nuno G. C. Ferreira, Luísa Machado, Abel Ferreira, Isabel Lopes, Susana Loureiro & Amadeu M. V. M. Soares

  2. Department of Biology, Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Cátia S. A. Santos

  3. Laboratório de Genética Toxicológica, Departamento de Genética e Morfologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Asa Norte, 70910-900, Brasília, DF, Brazil

    Rhaul Oliveira

  4. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Produção Vegetal, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Campus de Gurupi. Rua Badejós, Zona Rural, Cx. Postal 66, 77402-970, Gurupi, TO, Brazil

    Amadeu M. V. M. Soares

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  1. Inês Domingues
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  2. Cátia S. A. Santos
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  3. Nuno G. C. Ferreira
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  4. Luísa Machado
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  5. Rhaul Oliveira
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  6. Abel Ferreira
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  7. Isabel Lopes
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  8. Susana Loureiro
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  9. Amadeu M. V. M. Soares
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Correspondence to Inês Domingues.

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Nuno G. C. Ferreira holds a PhD degree, Universidade de Aveiro.

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Domingues, I., Santos, C.S.A., Ferreira, N.G.C. et al. Suitability of enzymatic markers to assess the environmental condition of natural populations of Gambusia affinis and Daphnia magna—a case study. Environ Monit Assess 187, 208 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4429-2

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