The use of marine invertebrates in ecotoxicology is important for an integrated approach which takes into consideration physiological responses and chemical levels in environmental matrices. Standard protocols have been developed and organisms belonging to different trophic levels are needed as model organisms to evaluate toxicant bioavailability and assess their impact on marine biota. The calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa is commonly used in ecotoxicology due to its widespread distribution and well-studied biology. However, different strains coming from various geographical areas are available, and possible variations in physiological characteristics raise concerns about the comparability of ecotoxicological results. This study compares the life cycle assessment and sensitivity of Adriatic and Baltic strains of A. tonsa exposed to nickel (Ni2+) in standardized acute and semi-chronic tests. Life cycle assessments revealed differences in egg production, egg-hatching success, and naupliar viability between the strains. The acute toxicity test demonstrated the significantly higher sensitivity of Adriatic strain nauplii to Ni2+ compared to the Baltic strain, whereas the semi-chronic test showed no significant difference in sensitivity between the strains. These findings suggest that while strain-specific differences exist in different geographical populations, responses to toxicants are not significantly different. Particularly, the semi-chronic assessments with both A. tonsa strains emphasized the robustness of this species as a model organism in ecotoxicology.

中文翻译：

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Calanoid Copepod Acaria tonsa 的生态毒理学测定：地中海菌株和波罗的海菌株之间的比较

海洋无脊椎动物在生态毒理学中的应用对于考虑环境基质中的生理反应和化学水平的综合方法非常重要。已经制定了标准方案，需要属于不同营养级的生物作为模型生物来评估有毒物质的生物利用度并评估其对海洋生物群的影响。由于其广泛的分布和深入研究的生物学特性，桡足类 Acaria tonsa 常用于生态毒理学。然而，来自不同地理区域的不同菌株是可用的，并且生理特性可能存在的差异引起了人们对生态毒理学结果的可比性的担忧。本研究比较了在标准化急性和半慢性测试中暴露于镍 (Ni2+) 的亚得里亚海和波罗的海 A.tonsa 菌株的生命周期评估和敏感性。生命周期评估揭示了菌株之间产蛋量、卵孵化成功率和无节幼体活力的差异。急性毒性试验表明亚得里亚海品系无节幼体对Ni2+的敏感性显着高于波罗的海品系，而半慢性试验显示各品系之间的敏感性没有显着差异。这些发现表明，虽然不同地理人群存在菌株特异性差异，但对毒物的反应并没有显着差异。特别是，对两种 A.tonsa 菌株的半慢性评估强调了该物种作为生态毒理学模式生物的稳健性。