Abstract
Toxic cyanobacteria occur in fresh, brackish, and marine waters worldwide. Harmful effects of intact cyanobacterial cells on zooplankton are well known, but only a few studies have focused on the effects of dissolved toxins. We investigated experimentally how the cyanobacterial toxins anatoxin-a, microcystin-LR, and nodularin affect estuarine calanoid copepods, by monitoring effects on egg hatching and survival in Eurytemora affinis. We also investigated effects of nodularin on the survival of Acartia bifilosa. All exposures were carried out using purified dissolved toxins. We found that the egg hatching was unaffected by these toxins, whereas survival was marginally affected by high concentrations of anatoxin-a and nodularin. For microcystin-LR, we found reduced survival at concentrations that were lower than those known to affect other meso-zooplankton.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 577-583 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Marine Biology |
| Volume | 140 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2002 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Funding
Acknowledgements This study was financially supported by the following parties: Academy of Finland (grant 42768) and Umeå Marine Sciences Centre (M. Reinikainen); the EU (grant MAS3-CT97-0156 and BASIC ENVY-C197-0571) (S. Repka, K. Sivonen, and M. Wahlsten); the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation and the Magnus Ehrnrooth foundation (J.A.O. Meriluoto and L. Spoof). This study is also part of University of Helsinki program number 98524002. We are indebted to M. Koski and J. Dutz for help and comments, and to M. Artheau, A. Barrière, and J. Sundqvist for dedicated laboratory and field studies. This is ELOISE publication no 258/15.