Abstract

This study investigated primarily the toxic effects of bis(tributyltin)oxide (TBT) and DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) on the mortality of adult Acartia omorii and barnacle nauplii as well as the hatching rate of A. omorii. Subsequently, compound effects of TBT and DDT on the mortality of immature copepods were tested in order to assess whether or not synergistic influence existed in the mixture of sublethal concentration of two pollutants. Mortality of adult A. omorii increased as exposure concentration of DDT increased in the range of from 0.0001 to 1ppm. Egg hatching rate of the copepod showed no distinctive difference in the range between 0.1 and 10ppm, while barnacle nauplii showed abnormal motility of their appendages in the range of 0.0001 to 1 ppm. Mortality of adult A. omorii increased as TBT concentration increased within the range of 1 and 10 ppb, whereas egg hatching rate of the copepod showed no linear response to the same exposure range. Moreover, copepod nauplii were almost motionless even though copepod eggs hatched under the exposure condition of TBT <TEX>$(0{\sim}10 ppb)$</TEX> and DDT <TEX>$(0{\sim}10 ppm)$</TEX>, respectively, suggesting that the nauplii are hard to develop into adult stage. On the basis of the sublethal concentration less than the 24-h <TEX>$LC_{50}$</TEX>, 0.001 ppm (DDT) and 2 ppb (TBT) were selected to confirm the compound effects of two pollutants on the mortality of immature copepods. Mortality of immature copepods under the condition of mixture of the two pollutants was higher than that in the single exposure condition. This result seems to indicate that synergistic effects of sublethal toxicants can make a more hazardous effect on the survival of immature copepods even though the concentration of single toxicant is not lethal to copepods in the marine environment.

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