Multigenerational effects of salinity in six clonal lineages of Daphnia longispina

Abstract

Sea level rise, as a consequence of climate changes, is already causing seawater intrusion in some freshwater coastal ecosystems worldwide. The increase in salinity at these freshwater coastal ecosystems may occur gradually (through groundwater) or abruptly (through extreme weather events). Moreover, many of them are also being altered and threatened by anthropogenic activities. Accordingly, the present study aimed at assessing the multigenerational lethal and sublethal effects caused by increased salinity in six clonal lineages of the freshwater cladoceran Daphnia longispina differing in their sensitivity to lethal levels of copper. Three specific objectives were delineated: i) to compare the lethal and sublethal toxicity of sodium chloride (NaCl) and natural seawater (SW); ii) to evaluate possible multigenerational effects after exposure to low levels of salinity, and iii) to evaluate if an association exists between tolerance to lethal and sublethal levels of salinity and tolerance to metals. Overall, NaCl was found to elicit sublethal effects at lower or similar concentrations than SW, suggesting its use as a protective surrogate of SW in early phases of ecological risk assessment schemes. Multigenerational exposure to conductivities of 0.73±0.015mScm−1 led to dissimilar responses by the six clonal lineages. Significant associations were found neither between lethal and sublethal endpoints nor between salinity and metals, possibly indicating the absence of common mechanisms responsible to confer metal tolerance and salt stress. However, some clonal lineages presented an inverse sensitivity to lethal levels of NaCl and of copper. These results suggest that natural populations of D. longispina, by exhibiting clonal lineages with differential tolerance to increased salinity, may cope with long-term exposure to small increases of this stressor. However, over time those populations may face the occurrence of genetic erosion due to the loss of the most sensitive genotypes before or after a multigenerational exposure.