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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 59(12)

Copper effects in the copepod Tigriopus angulatus Lang, 1933: natural broad tolerance allows maintenance of food webs in copper-enriched coastal areas

M. H. Medina A B E , B. Morandi C and J. A. Correa D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A AVS Chile SA Imperial 0655, Of. 3A, Puerto Varas, Chile.

B Centro i-mar, Universidad de Los Lagos, Camino Chinquihue km 6, Puerto Montt, Chile.

C Bioentorno Limitada, Adriana Cousiño 335a Santiago Centro, Chile.

D Departamento de Ecología & Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity (CASEB), Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

E Corresponding author. Email: matias.medina@avs-chile.cl

Marine and Freshwater Research 59(12) 1061-1066 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08122
Submitted: 17 April 2008  Accepted: 31 August 2008   Published: 18 December 2008

Abstract

Some coastal areas of northern Chile have received copper mine tailings for more than 60 years. At these areas, the toxic effects of copper have eliminated most intertidal seaweed and macroinvertebrate populations. However, the harpacticoid splashpool copepod Tigriopus angulatus seems unaffected, inhabiting heavily impacted sites. Because this species of copepod makes the energy of photosynthesis available to higher trophic levels, it becomes ecologically relevant to define the range of copper it can tolerate without affecting its population size. This was assessed through the analysis of demographic responses measured in a life-cycle experiment with copepods from a site with no history of heavy metal pollution. Results showed that juvenile survival was the most sensitive endpoint and that the species’ intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm) remains unaffected (without showing a fitness cost associated with tolerance) at copper concentrations within the range measured at these impacted areas. Thus, despite the high levels of dissolved copper measured at those sites, the local population of T. angulatus apparently can persist in exploiting its ecological niche and contributing to the overall ecosystem functioning, highlighting an unforeseen role of this copepod in the maintenance of food webs at the copper-enriched environment of northern Chile.

Additional keywords: Chañaral, life-history traits, pollution tolerance, population growth rate.


Acknowledgements

This study was funded by FONDAP 1501-0001 (Program 7) to J.A.C. We deeply thank ICA and the tireless assistance of J. Beltran, V. Flores and S. Andrade during the laboratory work involved in the present study. We deeply thank Marcela Goddard for the taxonomic analysis and species determination. Constructive comments from two anonymous referees improved the manuscript significantly. Data collection and the experiments described in this study followed the ethic regulations described in the Biosecurity Manual of the Chilean National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT 2008, www.fondecyt.cl).


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