Dissanayake Awantha, Galloway Tamara S, Jones Malcolm B
School of Biological Sciences, University of Plymouth, 410 Davy Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, United Kingdom.
Mar Environ Res. 2008 Oct;66(4):445-50. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2008.07.006. Epub 2008 Jul 30.
This study measured aspects of the physiology of juvenile [(<35mm carapace width (CW)] and adult (>60mm CW) Carcinus maenas to test the hypothesis that these different life-history stages exhibit different sensitivities to environmental contamination. Newly-collected juveniles had significantly (P<0.05) lower immunocompetence (phagocytosis and cellular integrity), lower metabolic energy (haemolymph glucose) and increased scope for growth compared with adults. Seven day exposure to a sub-lethal concentration (200microgL(-1)) of pyrene significantly (P<0.01) reduced immunocompetence, elevated basal heart rate and decreased respiration (at rest) for juveniles but had no overall impact on adult crab physiology. Results confirm that physiological differences exist between juvenile and adult shore crabs, and cause juveniles to be more susceptible to the effects of pyrene exposure than adults. Such differences in sensitivity to contamination between life-cycle stages of the same species have to be taken into account during the risk assessment process.
本研究测定了幼年（头胸甲宽度（CW）<35毫米）和成年（CW>60毫米）的平背蜞的生理特征，以检验这一假设：这些不同的生活史阶段对环境污染表现出不同的敏感性。与成年个体相比，新采集的幼年个体的免疫能力（吞噬作用和细胞完整性）显著更低（P<0.05），代谢能量（血淋巴葡萄糖）更低，生长潜力更大。暴露于亚致死浓度（200微克/升）的芘7天，幼年个体的免疫能力显著降低（P<0.01），基础心率升高，静息呼吸下降，但对成年蟹的生理特征总体没有影响。结果证实，幼年和成年滨蟹之间存在生理差异，这使得幼年个体比成年个体更容易受到芘暴露的影响。在风险评估过程中，必须考虑同一物种生命周期阶段对污染敏感性的这种差异。
