Acute, Subchronic and Chronic toxicities of copper to the marine copepod Tigriopus fulvus.

Abstract -. Copepoda Harpacticoids are extensively used in acute ecotoxicity testing. In this study as alternative tool to acute test, subchronic and chronic toxicities of CuSO4 to Tigriopus fulvus were evaluated. 48h-LC50 value obtained for the endpoint mortality was 0.22 (0.30-0.16). Sub-lethal effects of three concentrations of Cu (0.015, 0.03, 0.06 mgCu/L) have been evaluated, in order to evidence sublethal endpoints to support this organism model as moulting in nauplii. This endpoint showed higher sensitivity than the mortality endpoint. After 4 exposure days a significant moult number reduction (in a dose-dependent manner) was observed at 0.03 and 0.06 mgCu/L; while after 7 day a significant reduction was observed already at the lowest test concentration. Nine life-cycle traits for the chronic toxicity testing of T. fulvus were investigated, including survival, sex ratio, body lengths, developmental time of nauplius phase, developmental time to maturation, the percentage of spawning females, fecundity, hatching time, number of clutches, and number of offspring/clucth. Results obtained showed that the chronic exposure of T. fulvus to Copper significantly affected the most life-cycle traits. So T. fulvus remains a good candidate for a model organism in ecotoxicological research, thanks to its low costs, length of time and its sensitivity to chemical pollutants