Crayfish rely on their chemosensory system for many essential behaviours including finding food, finding mates, and to recognize individuals. Copper can impair chemosensation in crayfish at low concentrations; however, it is not clear if the effect is ameliorated once copper is removed. To better understand the effect of and recovery from copper exposure in crayfish, we exposed Northern clearwater crayfish (Faxonius propinquus) to 31.3 \({\upmu }\text{g}/\text{L}\) copper for 24 h and measured the response of the crayfish to a food cue. The crayfish were then placed into clean water to depurate for an 24 h. The results demonstrated that the crayfish did not respond to a food cue if they had been exposed to copper, but showed a full response after a 24 h recovery period without copper. Higher concentrations of copper have shown a much longer-term effect in rusty crayfish (Faxonius rustics), indicating there is a concentration where the copper is causing longer-term damage instead of just impairing chemosensation. These results highlight the fact that even though contaminants like copper can have profound effects at low concentrations, by removing the contaminants the effect can be ameliorated.

小龙虾依靠化学感应系统来完成许多基本行为，包括寻找食物、寻找配偶和识别个体。低浓度的铜会损害小龙虾的化学感觉；然而，尚不清楚去除铜后效果是否会改善。为了更好地了解铜暴露对小龙虾的影响和恢复，我们将北方清水小龙虾 ( Faxonius propinquus ) 暴露于 31.3 \({\upmu }\text{g}/\text{L}\)铜中 24 小时并测量小龙虾对食物提示的反应。然后将小龙虾放入清水中净化24小时。结果表明，如果小龙虾接触了铜，它们不会对食物信号做出反应，但在没有铜的情况下经过 24 小时的恢复期后，它们会表现出完全的反应。较高浓度的铜对生锈小龙虾（ Faxonius rustics ）表现出更长期的影响，表明一定浓度的铜会造成长期损害，而不仅仅是损害化学感觉。这些结果强调了这样一个事实：尽管铜等污染物在低浓度下会产生深远的影响，但通过去除污染物，可以改善影响。