The Pollution Biology of Aquatic Oligochaetes A specimen of Tubifex tubifex from the culture in the laboratory of Animal Ecotoxicology and Water Quality at the University of Basque Country. Photo: Pilar Rodriguez. Pilar Rodriguez • Trefor B. Reynoldson The Pollution Biology of Aquatic Oligochaetes Pilar Rodriguez Trefor B. Reynoldson Department of Zoology Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research and Animal Cell Biology National Water Research Institute Faculty of Science and Technology Environment Canada University of the Basque Country Acadia University P.O. Box 644 Bilbao 48080 P.O. Box 115 Spain Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6 [email protected] Canada [email protected] There are instances where we have been unable to trace or contact the copyright holder. If notified the publisher will be pleased to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity. ISBN 978-94-007-1717-6 e-ISBN 978-94-007-1718-3 DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1718-3 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011934967 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Prologue Some 30 years ago, Ralph Brinkhurst thought that it would be appropriate to prepare a volume pulling together the current state of knowledge on the biology of aquatic oligochaetes. This led to a meeting of those involved in oligochaete research and a subsequent volume which was the first Proceedings of the International Symposia of Aquatic Oligochaeta, held in Sidney, British Columbia in 1979 (Brinkhurst and Cook 1980) and was not a review but rather a summary of the state of the art of the studies on biology of aquatic oligochaetes at that time, including the biology of pollution. That first meeting in British Columbia initiated a triennial series of meetings and proceedings including ecotoxicology and pollution. In 1997, from these beginnings, Ralph suggested that we continue work that he had already initiated and over the ensuing period we have gradually completed this project both individually, in the rare periods that teaching or research projects has allowed us time, and also together. We have had to convince our family to meet in Canada, Spain, or Wales, for a few weeks every year from 1997, to move the work forward. For that we are very grateful for the indulgence of our families, for their patient and unconditional support over these years. As the work has taken longer than expected, the additions to and re-organisation of the original manuscript have been substantial and, while Ralph is not a co-author on the volume, we wish to acknowledge his role in both developing the original manuscript and the fact that without his first contribution the book would probably have never seen the light of day. Thus, we wish to express our gratitude to Ralph Brinkhurst, colleague and good friend, for his key role in the development of this book. We also wish to express our gratitude to an array of colleagues which have helped with this volume. Particularly, Philipp Egeler for his review and valuable comments on the draft manuscript on bioaccumulation. Our gratitude also to Ruth Collado, Steve Fend, David Fogarty, Enrique Navarro, Adrian Pinder, Tarmo Timm, and Mark Wetzel for answering an array of questions. The first author wants to express thanks for the financial support for the acquisi- tion of part of the bibliographic material as well as part of work invested in this book, by the projects CGL2005-04943, CGL2008-04502 (Spanish Government) and IT405-10 (Basque Government). The second author would also like to v vi Prologue acknowledge Environment Canada who supported this work before his retirement. We also wish to thank the various publishers who have given permission to repro- duce published data and especially to Springer who have financed the publication of the book. We hope that it will be useful in your research and teaching, this will have made our effort worthwhile. Finally we would like to dedicate this book to our respective fathers, to D. Primitivo Rodriguez who from childhood instilled a thirst for knowledge and scientific discovery and Professor Thomas B. Reynoldson who led the way in working with oligochaete worms. February 2011 Pilar Rodriguez Trefor B. Reynoldson Contents 1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background on Aquatic Oligochaetes in Pollution Biology ............. 1 1.2 Purpose and Contents of the Book .................................................... 5 References .................................................................................................. 6 2 Taxonomy of Aquatic Oligochaetes ........................................................ 9 2.1 What Is an Oligochaete Worm? ........................................................ 10 2.2 Classification of the Clitellata ........................................................... 11 2.3 Species Identification and Some Taxonomic Observations .............. 15 2.3.1 Naidids and Tubificids ........................................................... 17 2.3.2 Lumbriculids .......................................................................... 19 2.3.3 Phreodrilids ............................................................................ 20 2.3.4 Enchytraeids .......................................................................... 21 2.3.5 Lumbricine Worms ................................................................ 21 References .................................................................................................. 22 3 Ecology and Field Studies ....................................................................... 29 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 30 3.2 Freshwater Community Studies ........................................................ 30 3.3 Estuarine and Marine Studies............................................................ 46 3.4 Analytical Methods ........................................................................... 53 3.4.1 Indices and Metrics ................................................................ 55 3.4.2 Multivariate Approaches ....................................................... 66 3.5 Other Field Approaches .................................................................... 71 3.5.1 Size Spectrum Analysis ......................................................... 71 3.5.2 Mesocosms ............................................................................ 72 3.5.3 Field Bioaccumulation ........................................................... 72 3.5.4 Chaetal Alterations ................................................................ 74 3.6 Bioturbation....................................................................................... 74 3.7 Conclusions and Remarks ................................................................. 76 References .................................................................................................. 77 vii viii Contents 4 Toxicology and Laboratory Studies ........................................................ 87 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 88 4.2 Water-Only Toxicity Tests ................................................................. 93 4.2.1 Acute Freshwater Tests .......................................................... 93 4.2.2 Acute Estuarine and Marine Tests ......................................... 105 4.2.3 Chronic Freshwater Water-Only Tests ................................... 106 4.2.4 Chronic Estuarine and Marine Water-Only Tests .................. 109 4.3 Sediment Toxicity Tests .................................................................... 111 4.3.1 Acute Freshwater Sediment Tests .......................................... 111 4.3.2 Acute Estuarine and Marine Sediment Tests ......................... 117 4.3.3 Chronic Freshwater Sediment Tests ...................................... 118 4.3.4 Chronic Estuarine and Marine Sediment Tests ...................... 130 4.3.5 In Situ Bioassays ................................................................... 132 4.4 Comparative Sensitivity with Other Invertebrates ............................ 133 4.5 Acclimation and Genetic Adaptation ................................................ 136 4.6 Biomarkers ........................................................................................ 138 4.7 Conclusions ....................................................................................... 147 References .................................................................................................. 148 5 Bioaccumulation and Trophic Transfer ................................................. 159 5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 160 5.2 Uptake, Storage and Elimination ...................................................... 162 5.2.1 Uptake ...................................................................................