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Part 1: Laboratory Culture of Centroptilum triangulifer (Ephemeroptera: BAETIDAE) Using a Standardized Diet of Three Diatoms.
Citation:
Weaver, P., K. Struewing, Jim Lazorchak, S. DeCelles, D. Funk, D. Buckwalter, AND B. Johnson. Part 1: Laboratory Culture of Centroptilum triangulifer (Ephemeroptera: BAETIDAE) Using a Standardized Diet of Three Diatoms. CHEMOSPHERE. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 139(11):589-596, (2015).
Impact/Purpose:
This paper is important in that it will allow for the culture of a new test organism, a parthenogenic mayfly, that can be used for testing toxics.
Description:
Development of methods for assessing exposure and effects of waterborne toxicants on stream invertebrate species is important to elucidate environmentally relevant information. United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) laboratory protocols for invertebrate toxicity testing typically utilize cladocerans, amphipods or chironomids rather than the more typical aquatic insect taxa used in stream bioassessments (e.g, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, or Trichoptera species (EPTs)). Standard protocols are therefore needed for taxa that better relate field and laboratory toxicity and bioassessment results. Centroptilum triangulifer (McDunnough) (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) is a parthenogenetic mayfly occurring in depositional habitats of streams and rivers of the Eastern U.S. and Canada was chosen for this study and culturing methods were developed . C. triangulifer is an ideal organism for monitoring water quality under field and laboratory conditions because of its short life cycle and parthenogenetic mode of reproduction. In this study, a colony of C. triangulifer was reared using a standardized diet of three diatoms, Mayamaea atomus var. permitis (Hustedt) Lange-Bertalot, Nitzschia cf. pusilla (Kützing) Grunow emend. Lange-Bertalot, and Achnanthidium minutissimum (Kützing) Czarnecki. Percent survival (≥80%), fecundity measurements (≥1000 eggs) and pre-egg laying weights were used as indicators of overall colony health and fitness over eleven generations in Lab-line water and 4 generations in Moderately Hard Reconstituted Water (MHRW). Lab-line reared C. triangulifer had average survival rate of 91.96% for ten generations and 81.58% over twelve generations. Nine out of ten generations reared in Lab line had fecundities greater than 1000 eggs per individual. MHRW reared C. triangulifer had an average survival rate of 80.65% for four generations and three generations of fecundities greater than 1000 eggs per individual. Pre-egg laying weight and fecundity were highly correlated (p<0.0001, R squared= 0.7175) and a best fit model equation was derived to determine egg counts for future generations. Establishment of this culturing protocol provides a more ecologically relevant species for toxicity testing and aids in further stressor identification for stream bioassessments.
