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Stress response of Chironomus riparius to changes in water temperature and oxygen concentration in a lowland stream

Alessandro Manfrin, Stefano Larsen, Massimiliano Scalici, Sven Wuertz, Michael T. Monaghan
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/266528
Alessandro Manfrin
aLeibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Müggelseedamm 301/310, 12587 Berlin, Germany
bDepartment of Biology-Chemistry-Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustraβe 3, 14195 Berlin, Germany
cUmwelt-Campus Birkenfeld, University of Applied Sciences Trier, Post Box 1380, 55761 Birkenfeld, Germany
dDepartment of Aquatic Ecology, Universität Duisburg-Essen, D-45117 Essen, Germany
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Stefano Larsen
eGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
fTrento University, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering. Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy
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Massimiliano Scalici
gDepartment of Science, University Roma Tre, viale Guglielmo Marconi 446, 00146 Rome, Italy
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Sven Wuertz
aLeibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Müggelseedamm 301/310, 12587 Berlin, Germany
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Michael T. Monaghan
aLeibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Müggelseedamm 301/310, 12587 Berlin, Germany
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Abstract

The increasing impairment of lotic ecosystems has promoted a growing effort into assessing their ecological status by means of biological indicators. While community-based approaches have proven valuable to assess ecosystem integrity, they mostly reflect long-term changes and might not be suitable for tracking and monitoring short-term events. Responses to rapid changes in environmental conditions have been rarely studied under natural conditions. Biomarkers offer the benefit of integrating biological responses at different time scales. Here we used a field experiment to test how the synthesis of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and Haemoglobin (Hb) in laboratory-reared larvae of Chironomus riparius (Diptera, Chironomidae) were influenced by short-term changes to water temperature and oxygen concentration in a lowland stream. Our aim was to determine whether HSP70 mRNA expression and Hb content could be used as an in situ “early warning system” for freshwater habitats undergoing environmental change. HSP70 exhibited a clear response to changes in temperature measured over a one-day period, confirming its suitability as an indicator of environmental stress. Hb concentration was related to oxygen concentration, but not to temperature. Our findings support the hypothesis that depletion in oxygen induces Hb synthesis in C. riparius larvae. Because tolerance to low oxygen is not only related to total Hb, but also to a more efficient uptake (binding to Hb, e.g. Bohr effect) and release of oxygen to the cell (Root effect), we cannot discern from our data whether increased efficiency played a role. We suggest that C. riparius is a suitable model organism for monitoring sub-lethal stress in the field and that the approach could be applied to other species as more genomic data are available for non-model organisms.

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Posted February 16, 2018.
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Stress response of Chironomus riparius to changes in water temperature and oxygen concentration in a lowland stream
Alessandro Manfrin, Stefano Larsen, Massimiliano Scalici, Sven Wuertz, Michael T. Monaghan
bioRxiv 266528; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/266528
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Stress response of Chironomus riparius to changes in water temperature and oxygen concentration in a lowland stream
Alessandro Manfrin, Stefano Larsen, Massimiliano Scalici, Sven Wuertz, Michael T. Monaghan
bioRxiv 266528; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/266528

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