Apparent water permeability as a physiological parameter in crustaceans

Abstract

This article reviews the use of apparent water permeability (AWP) calculated from measurements of isotope-labelled water flux as a physiological estimate of whole-body water permeability in aquatic invertebrates. The rationale and practices of AWP calculations are described in an Appendix. AWP calculations have provided a wealth of information. However, the validity of the method and therefore also of the information obtained have been questioned. Consequently, the use of AWP data in discussions of osmotic and fluid homeostatic questions in aquatic invertebrates is limited. This article reviews three decades of published experiments in which measurements of isotope-labelled water fluxes were used to estimate water permeability in aquatic invertebrates. Data on 24 species of arthropod, most of them decapod crustaceans, are presented. The combined data indicate that the results obtained by different investigators on the same species show good agreement, even though different tracers and experimental methods have been applied. When available, results from other kinds of studies were used to evaluate the results obtained using the AWP measurements. The various results demonstrate that AWP is influenced not only by natural environmental factors, such as salinity and temperature, and by anthropogenic factors, such as potentially toxic trace metals, but that it is also regulated by intrinsic factors, such as ecdysis and life cycle stage. The results obtained can often be explained as effects of components of the habitat of the animal. Accordingly, studies on variations in AWP contribute to our understanding of the different physiological strategies used by species living in a changing environment. We conclude that calculations of AWP offer reliable, relevant physiological data in a range of crustacean species, as long as methodological limitations and uncertainties are kept in mind. In addition, we propose some possible new ways of applying AWP calculations to marine invertebrates other than crustaceans. A major part of this review describes results already obtained for the shore crab Carcinus maenas as this species is probably the animal on which most work has been carried out. We suggest topics for future work on this species and review the possibility of using AWP in C. maenas as a biomarker of metal exposure.