AChE inhibition: one dominant factor for swimming behavior changes of Daphnia magna under DDVP exposure

A new indicator to evaluate the pollution of iron and manganese

Iron and manganese leaching into water via precipitation can cause water pollution. We evaluate the contamination of iron and manganese through behavior response, finally to obtain an online monitoring method on heavy metal pollution in water.

Organophosphorous biocides reduce tenacity and cellular viability but not esterase activities in a non-target prosobranch (limpet)

Detecting impacts of organophosphorus biocides (OP) is facilitated by analysing "biomarkers" - biological responses to environmental insults. Understanding is hampered by studying biomarkers in isolation at different levels of biological response and limited work on ecologically-important species. We tested the relevance of esterases as biomarkers of OP-exposure in limpets (Patella vulgata), abundant prosobranchs that structure the assemblages on rocky shores through their grazing. We characterized esterases in haemolymph and tissue, and quantified their dose-dependent inhibition by chlorfenvinphos (0.1-3.0 mM) in vitro. To determine whether esterases are useful biomarkers we exposed limpets to chlorfenvinphos (0-10 μg L(-1)). Despite reduced tenacity (ability to stick to a surface) and haemocyte-viability, esterases remained unaffected. Tenacity was reduced by >50% at 5 μg L(-1) and by 95% at 10 μg L(-1), whilst haemocyte-viability was more sensitive with >40% reductions at concentrations of 0.5 μg L(-1) and above. We discuss results in relation to linking sub-lethal and ecological impacts at contaminated sites.