Differences in lethal response between male and female calanoid copepods and life cycle traits to cadmium toxicity

This study determined the effect of cadmium (Cd) toxicity comparatively on two copepods, Eurytemora affinis (Poppe 1880) from a temperate region (Seine Estuary, France) and Pseudodiaptomus annandalei (Sewell 1919) from a subtropical region (Danshuei Estuary, Taiwan), according to their sex and reproductive stages. In addition, the effect of Cd to their life cycle traits was quantified. In the first experiment, both copepod sexes were exposed to 40, 80, 150, 220, and 360 µg/L of Cd and a control cultured in salinity 15, except that the temperature was 18 °C for E. affinis and 26 °C for P. annandalei. This allowed calculating median lethal concentration (LC50) of Cd after 96 h. This was 120.6 µg/L Cd for P. annandalei males which were almost twice as sensitive as P. annandalei females (LC50 = 239.5 µg/L Cd). For E. affinis females, the LC50 was 90.04 µg/L Cd, reflecting a 1.4 times higher sensitivity of females than of males (LC50 = 127.75 µg/L Cd). The males of both species were similarly sensitive; however, the E. affinis females were 2.7 times more sensitive than the P. annandalei females. We also compared the sensitivity of ovigerous females (OVF) and non-ovigerous females (NOF) of both species to Cd. Mortality was higher in NOF than in OVF of both copepod species in both the control and the 40 µg/L Cd treatment. Finally, the total population, fecundity and female morphology of both copepod species were estimated after exposing one generation cycle (nauplius to adult) to 40 μg/L Cd (for E. affinis) and 160 μg/L Cd (for P. annandalei). A significant decrease in cohort production, survival and clutch size but no significant difference in the prosome length of both copepod species exposed to Cd were detected. The ratio of OVF:NOF was high in both copepod species exposed to Cd. Cd toxicity did not significantly affect the M:F sex ratio and % OVF of E. affinis. However, the effect of Cd toxicity in P. annandalei was significant in the M:F sex ratio and was in favor of females and their reproductive activities due to an increase in % OVF. Moreover, there was a significant decrease in total production of P. annandalei due to high mortality in their nauplii and copepodid developmental stages. Toxicity to Cd appears to be affected by multiple factors including sex, reproductive life stage and species. The ecological implication of Cd toxicity on E. affinis and P. annandalei copepod ecology is more related to a skewed sex ratio, low egg production, reduced hatchability and reduced survival that affects the recruitment potential of the copepod nauplii resulting in a decreasing copepod population. Mortality, reproduction and population growth of model species may provide important bio-indicators for environmental risk assessment.