Active avoidance from a crude oil soluble fraction by an Andean paramo copepod

• Published in: Ecotoxicology (London) Vol. 23; no. 7; pp. 1254 - 1259
• Main Authors: Araújo, Cristiano V. M, Moreira-Santos, Matilde, Sousa, José P, Ochoa-Herrera, Valeria, Encalada, Andrea C, Ribeiro, Rui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer-Verlag 01.09.2014; Springer US; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Assaying; Avoidance; Boeckella; Copepoda; Copepoda - drug effects; Copepoda - physiology; Crude oil; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological risk assessment; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental assessment; Environmental Management; Environmental risk; Health aspects; Lagoons; Lethal Dose 50; Mortality; Oil spills; oils; Paramos; Petroleum - toxicity; Petroleum Pollution; Polyallylamine hydrochloride; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Population decline; Populations; prediction; Risk assessment; toxicity; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Oil spill; Ecuador; Non-forced exposure; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Paramo
• ISSN: 0963-9292; 1573-3017
• DOI: 10.1007/s10646-014-1268-9

Several oil spills due to ruptures in the pipeline oil systems have occurred at the Andean paramo. A sample of this crude oil was mixed with water from a nearby Andean lagoon and the toxicity of the soluble fraction was assessed through lethal and avoidance assays with a locally occurring copepod (Boeckella occidentalis intermedia). The integration of mortality and avoidance aimed at predicting the immediate decline of copepod populations facing an oil leakage. The 24-h median lethal PAH concentration was 42.7 (26.4–91.6) µg L⁻¹. In the 12-h avoidance assay, 30 % avoidance was recorded at the highest PAH concentration (19.4 µg L⁻¹). The mortality at this PAH concentration would be of 25 % and, thus, the population immediate decline would be of 55 %. The inclusion of non-forced exposure testing with the quantification of the avoidance response in environmental risk assessments is, therefore, supported due to underestimation of the lethal assays.