engleski

Aquatic Macroinvertebrates Under Multiple Stress: Insights from a Mesocosm Experiment

Freshwaters are frequently subject to a complex mixture of stressors like pollution and climate change. Moreover, wastewater effluents are one of the main sources of chemical pollutants in freshwater ecosystems. Multiple stressor impact on these ecosystems directly acts at the level of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. Studies on multiplicative effect of climate change, e.g., changing water temperature and chemical pollutants on freshwater biodiversity and implications thereof are limited. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to investigate single and combined effects of wastewater effluent and elevated water temperature on aquatic macroinvertebrates. A mesocosm experiment was conducted with a simplified freshwater food web containing nonvascular macrophytes (moss) and Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, and Amphipoda, feeding as shredders and grazers. Samples were collected at the beginning and end of the experiment, whereas emerging animals were collected daily. Analyses enabling assessment of the response of nonmodel aquatic macroinvertebrates to selected stressors are ongoing, such as total protein and lipid content, and metabolome and lipidome profiling. Preliminary results show species-specific response to stress. An increase in body weight of caddisfly larvae was observed at the end of experiment, except in multiple stressor treatment. Similarly, a drop in total lipid content in caddisfly larvae was related to increased water temperature or multiple stressor treatment. Furthermore, reduced lipid content related to multiple stressor treatment was also observed in adult mayflies. The current study will give novel insights into the molecular response of aquatic macroinvertebrates subjected to anthropogenic stressors.

Model communities ; Mesocosm experiment ; Multiple stressors

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