Influence of copper and cadmium in algae and their ecotoxicological effects in freshwater zooplankton

• Grant number: 15/25436-1
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2016
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal researcher: Evaldo Luiz Gaeta Espindola
• Grantee: Giseli Swerts Rocha
• Home Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities can release toxic substances in the environments, affecting them and their biota. One group of these toxic substances is the metals, some being used for the correct development of organism - essentials, like copper - while others are not used - non-essentials, like cadmium. In aquatic environment, metals can affect primary production of algae, base of the trophic chain, altering the functioning of the system and the trophic chain, reaching humans. Zooplankton need lipids in quantity and quality enough for their correct development and reproduction, obtaining them from food. However, exposure to metals can affect the lipid composition of organisms (phyto- and zooplankton), resulting in a less healthier food or with deleterious effects to the consumers in higher trophic levels, especially in the case of the metals that bioaccumulate and biomagnify. The aim of present proposal is to evaluate the effects caused by limitation of nutrients - nitrogen and phosphorus - in algae of different families and naturally with different capacities to synthesize fatty acids and how these algae affect the consumers. With this proposal, we intend to figure out the mechanisms involved in contaminants transfer through the trophic chain, observe if there are alterations in the organisms according to the new scenarios, using some kind of adaptation to reduce the damages and try understanding if the exposure for some time can be reversible if we return the organisms to the "optimal" culture conditions.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MOREIRA, RAQUEL APARECIDA; ROCHA, GISELI SWERTS; MENEZES DA SILVA, LAIS CONCEICAO; GOULART, BIANCA VELOSO; MONTAGNER, CASSIANA CAROLINA; GAMA MELAO, MARIA DA GRACA; GAETA ESPINDOLA, EVALDO LUIZ. Exposure to environmental concentrations of fipronil and 2,4-D mixtures causes physiological, morphological and biochemical changes in Raphidocelis subcapitata. ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY, v. 206, DEC 15 2020. Web of Science Citations: 0.

ROCHA, GISELI SWERTS; PARRISH, CHRISTOPHER C.; ESPINDOLA, EVALDO L. G. Shifts in photosynthetic parameters and lipid production of the freshwater microalgaSelenastrum gracile(Chlorophyceae) under cadmium exposure. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYCOLOGY, v. 32, n. 6, p. 4047-4055, DEC 2020. Web of Science Citations: 0.