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Abstract

We examined the environmental effects of various concentrations of hydrothermal vent (HV) effluents on growth, reproduction, and survivorship of the Tisbe sp. harpacticoid copepod that were retrieved from localities near the vent. Developmental stages (nauplii and copepodids) were exposed to various concentrations of HV effluents in a static renewal culture system. In the survivorship experiments, we tested 3 distinct developmental phases in HV effluent dilutions from 50% to 1%. The HV effluents considerably reduced the survivorship of the naupliar stages at concentrations of >1% (P < 0.05); all nauplii died at concentrations of 25% and 50%. The copepodids were considerably affected at concentrations of >1% in Tisbe sp. (P < 0.05), and no copepodid survived at 50% (P < 0.01). The adult females died at a 50% concentration in Tisbe sp. The developmental duration was not considerably affected in the naupliar or copepodid phases; however, it exhibited a trend of developmental delay. The naupliar development of Tisbe sp. was substantially delayed at a concentration of 10% (P < 0.01), whereas copepodids and adults only exhibited a trend of delayed development with increasing HV concentration. The endpoint mortality exhibited a greater sensitivity to chemical exposure than the endpoint development time. The early developmental stages of Tisbe sp. in both traits were more sensitive to HV effluents than advanced stages. Mortality was a useful toxicological endpoint compared that of developmental duration. We demonstrated that Tisbe sp. may be used in the monitoring of acute and life cycle effects of natural marine pollution caused by HV effluents.

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