Development of rearing and testing protocols for a new freshwater sediment test species: The gastropod Valvata piscinalis

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 62; no. 8; pp. 1272 - 1281
• Main Authors: Ducrot, Virginie, Cognat, Claudine, Mons, Raphaël, Mouthon, Jacques, Garric, Jeanne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-03-2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Biological and medical sciences; Chironomus riparius; Cultures; Diet; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental Sciences; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gastropoda; Gastropoda - drug effects; Gastropoda - growth & development; General aspects; Geologic Sediments; Life Cycle Stages; Life cycle tests; Mollusks; Species sensitivity; Valvata piscinalis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Zinc; Zinc - administration & dosage; Zinc - pharmacology; Cultures; Life cycle tests; Mollusks; Species sensitivity; Zinc; Farming animal; Life cycle (environment); Biological marker; Gastropoda; Experimental protocol; Sediments; Heavy metal; Freshwater environment; Aquatic environment; Life cycle; Environment impact; Invertebrata; Mollusca; Environmental protection; ECO; DSA; CEMAGREF; BELY
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2005.07.037

This paper aimed at proposing rearing and testing protocols for
Valvata piscinalis, a new potential species for sediment toxicity testing. Such tests were developed since this species reliably represents the bio/ecological characteristics of other gastropods. It may thus be representative of their sensitivity to chemicals.
V. piscinalis was successfully cultured in our laboratory for six generations. Cultures provided a high productivity for a low working time and low costs. The tests conditions we proposed seemed to be relevant for the development of reliable tests with this species. Indeed, hatching probability of egg-capsules, as well as embryo, newborn and juvenile survival rates, were close to 100%. Moreover, growth rates and fecundity were significantly higher than in field and in other laboratory studies.
Partial life-cycle tests on clean sediments were achieved for various feeding levels to determine survival, growth and reproduction patterns, ad libitum feeding level and life cycle parameters values. Ad libitum feeding levels for newborn, juveniles and adults were 0.1, 0.4 and 0.8
mg Tetramin
®/individual/working day.
Growth tests with zinc-spiked sediments provided a no-effect concentration and a lowest effect concentration of respectively 200 and 624
mg zinc/kg dry sediment. Other growth tests on spiked sediments we ran at our laboratory with second, third and fourth instars larvae of
Chironomus riparius pointed out that
V. piscinalis was more sensible to zinc than the chironomid, which is a routine test species in ecotoxicology.
According to these results,
V. piscinalis is a promising candidate species for sediment toxicity testing.