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The toxicity of arsenic(III), chromium(VI) and zinc to groundwater copepods

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Abstract

Groundwater ecosystems globally are threatened by anthropogenic contamination, yet there are few ecotoxicological data using obligate groundwater biota on which to base risk assessments. Copepods are found inhabiting aquifers of different geologies around the world and so are a useful taxon for use in ecotoxicological studies of groundwater. The aim of this study was to test the sensitivity of obligate groundwater copepods to metal contaminants (arsenic(III), chromium(VI) and zinc) in groundwater in static 96 h, 14 days and 28 days exposure tests. The copepods were variably sensitive to As, Cr and Zn, with Cr being the most toxic across all taxa. No taxon was consistently most sensitive and there was no apparent relationship between the hardness, pH and organic carbon concentration of the diluent water and the sensitivity of biota. As expected, toxicity increased with exposure period and we encourage the use of longer exposure periods in future toxicity tests with groundwater organisms to reflect the greater exposure periods likely to be associated with groundwater contamination.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the assistance of Ashleigh Keast and Sarah Stephenson who both contributed to laboratory and field work. The comments of two anonymous reviewers greatly improved this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW, Sydney, 2109, Australia

    G. C. Hose, K. Symington & M. J. Lott

  2. Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE), Callaghan, Australia

    G. C. Hose, K. Symington & M. J. Lategan

  3. Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW, Sydney, 2109, Australia

    M. J. Lategan

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  1. G. C. Hose
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  2. K. Symington
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  3. M. J. Lott
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Correspondence to G. C. Hose.

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The collection of invertebrates from Budderoo National Park was done under NSW National Parks collection permit SL100800.

Funding

This was supported by CRC CARE project 1-1-08-06/7 and NSW Environmental Trust project 2005/RD/0108.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Hose, G.C., Symington, K., Lott, M.J. et al. The toxicity of arsenic(III), chromium(VI) and zinc to groundwater copepods. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 18704–18713 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7046-x

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