Nature Research Centre, Akademijos Str. 2, 08412, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Feb;29(10):14479-14496. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-16783-1. Epub 2021 Oct 6.
Sticklebacks (Gasterosteiformes) are increasingly used in ecological and evolutionary research and have become well established as role model species for biologists. However, ecotoxicology studies concerning behavioural effects in sticklebacks regarding stress responses, mainly induced by chemical mixtures, have hardly been addressed. For this purpose, we investigated the swimming behaviour (including mortality rate based on 96-h LC values) of two ecologically similar three-spined (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) to short-term (up to 24 h) metal mixture (MIX) exposure. We evaluated the relevance and efficacy of behavioural responses of test species in the early toxicity assessment of chemical mixtures. Fish exposed to six (Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Cr) metals in the mixture were either singled out by the Water Framework Directive as priority or as relevant substances in surface water, which was prepared according to the environmental quality standards (EQSs) of these metals set for inland waters in the European Union (EU) (Directive 2013/39/EU). The performed behavioural analysis showed the main effect on the interaction between time, species, and treatment variables. Although both species exposed to MIX revealed a decreasing tendency in swimming activity, these species' responsiveness to MIX was somewhat different. Substantial changes in the activity of G. aculeatus were established after a 3-h exposure to MIX solutions, which was 1.43-fold lower, while in the case of P. pungitius, 1.96-fold higher than established 96-h LC values for each species. This study demonstrated species-specific differences in response sensitivity to metal-based water pollution, indicating behavioural insensitivity of P. pungitius as model species for aquatic biomonitoring and environmental risk assessments.
棘鱼（Gasterosteiformes）在生态和进化研究中被越来越多地应用，并已成为生物学家的典型模式物种。然而，关于化学混合物引起的应激反应的棘鱼行为效应的生态毒理学研究几乎没有涉及。为此，我们研究了两种生态相似的三刺鱼（Gasterosteus aculeatus）和九刺鱼（Pungitius pungitius）的游泳行为（包括基于 96 小时 LC 值的死亡率），这些鱼在短期（长达 24 小时）内接触金属混合物（MIX）。我们评估了测试物种的行为反应在化学混合物早期毒性评估中的相关性和有效性。暴露于混合物中六种（Zn、Pb、Cd、Cu、Ni 和 Cr）金属的鱼类，要么被《水框架指令》作为优先物质，要么被地表水相关物质所涵盖，这些物质是根据欧盟（EU）内陆水域的这些金属环境质量标准（EQSs）（指令 2013/39/EU）制备的。进行的行为分析显示，时间、物种和处理变量之间的相互作用存在主要影响。尽管两种物种暴露于 MIX 都显示出游泳活动减少的趋势，但这些物种对 MIX 的反应有些不同。在接触 MIX 溶液 3 小时后，G. aculeatus 的活动发生了实质性变化，比每个物种的 96 小时 LC 值低 1.43 倍，而 P. pungitius 的活动则高 1.96 倍。这项研究表明，棘鱼对基于金属的水污染的反应敏感性存在种间差异，表明 P. pungitius 作为水生生物监测和环境风险评估的模式物种存在行为不敏感性。
