Tubificid behavior as a stress indicator

An inexpensive, rapid protocol is described to assess water-borne insults by integrating sewage worm (tubificid) regulatory behavior with increased oxygen consumption. Data are provided to demonstrate how oxygen uptake rates in tubificid worms can be correlated with behavior to identify chronic leve...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water research (Oxford) 1988-02, Vol.22 (2), p.263-267
Main Authors: Coler, Robert A., Coler, Marga S., Kostecki, Paul T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
avoidance
behavior
Biological and medical sciences
dispersal
dissolved oxygen
Environmental pollutants toxicology
flow-through
Freshwater
Medical sciences
method
stress
toxicity
Toxicology
Tubificidae
tubificids
Water
xenobiotics
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:An inexpensive, rapid protocol is described to assess water-borne insults by integrating sewage worm (tubificid) regulatory behavior with increased oxygen consumption. Data are provided to demonstrate how oxygen uptake rates in tubificid worms can be correlated with behavior to identify chronic levels of toxicity. When flow rate to the treatment replicates' respiratory chambers was dropped from 1.71 to 0.65 ml min −1, the respiration rates decreased significantly from 0.31 to 0.17 mg O 2g −1h −1 respectively. Concommitantly, the treatments initially mobilized compensatory ventilation measures but subsequently exhibited avoidance behavior. The controls continued to remain dispersed and unagitated.
ISSN:0043-1354
1879-2448
DOI:10.1016/0043-1354(88)90088-7