Impact of Zirconium on Freshwater Periphytic Microorganisms
1
Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Quebec City, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
2
Irstea, UR EABX, 33612 Cestas CEDEX, France
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Environments 2019, 6(10), 111; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments6100111
Received: 23 August 2019
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Revised: 20 September 2019
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Accepted: 24 September 2019
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Published: 1 October 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into Impacts of Toxic Metals in Aquatic Environments)
The majority of studies on biofilms have focused on autotrophic and bacterial taxa, without considering the potential effects on biofilm grazers. In this work, we investigated the effects of realistic environmental concentrations of zirconium (Zr) on periphyton algal growth and micromeiofauna biodiversity. Glass slides were submerged in a pond for four weeks to colonize biofilms and exposed for four weeks in aquaria to targeted Zr concentrations of 0, 1, and 10 nM, which were monitored over time (average measured concentrations were 0.2 ± 0.1, 0.5 ± 0.3, and 2.9 ± 0.3 nM Zr). The four-week exposure to the highest concentration (3 nM) affected the micromeiofauna structure of biofilms and modified the autotrophic biofilm structure by increasing the proportion of green algae and decreasing the abundance of cyanobacteria and brown algae. Rotifers and the ciliate Aspidisca cicada appeared to be the most sensitive organisms among the observed micromeiofauna. A toxic effect of Zr on rotifers could explain such results. Indirect effects, such as reduced food availability given the reduced algal growth in the presence of Zr, could also play a role in the changes of micromeiofauna community structure. These results are among the few published data on the effects of Zr.
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Keywords:
tetravalent metal; biofilms; effects; rivers; micromeiofauna
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Caroline, D.; Soizic, M.; Jacky, V.; Claude, F. Impact of Zirconium on Freshwater Periphytic Microorganisms. Environments 2019, 6, 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments6100111
AMA Style
Caroline D, Soizic M, Jacky V, Claude F. Impact of Zirconium on Freshwater Periphytic Microorganisms. Environments. 2019; 6(10):111. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments6100111
Chicago/Turabian StyleCaroline, Doose, Morin Soizic, Vedrenne Jacky, and Fortin Claude. 2019. "Impact of Zirconium on Freshwater Periphytic Microorganisms" Environments 6, no. 10: 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments6100111
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