Are Toxic Substances Always Toxic? Case Studies of Different Organismal Responses Based on Brackish-Water Microphytobenthic Communities from the Baltic Sea

Abstract

In this manuscript, we present the results of ecotoxicological tests conducted on the Baltic microphytobenthos community consisting largely of cosmopolitan species showing the responses at the community (taxonomic composition and structure), population (abundance), and cellular (chloroplast shape) levels. The tests were carried out for three chemicals with different modes of action on photosynthetic organisms, i.e., copper (II) chloride (at concentrations of 2·10−5 g·dm3 and 2·10−3 g·dm−3), glyphosate in the form of Roundup® (concentrations ranging from 4.2·10−2 to 8.5 g·dm−3), and the ionic liquid [BMIM]Cl (at concentrations of 1.13·10−3 g·dm−3 and 1.75·10−2 g·dm−3). The results of the study indicate that the responses of microphytobenthos at each level analysed are highly variable and difficult to predict a priori based on experiments performed on single strains. In addition, it was shown that microphytobenthic communities are relatively resistant to the substances tested, which is due to taxonomic richness and the resulting potential for substitution of sensitive taxa by more resistant taxa. The results obtained in the tests also indicate that the number of cells of individual taxa can remain at a similar level or increase over short periods of time despite the deformation of chloroplasts in a numerous group of cells.

Keywords

• ecotoxicity
• toxicity tests
• microphytobenthic communities
• diatoms
• cyanobacteria
• copper chloride