The kinetics of phytoplankton is complicated function of phytoplankton present and their differing reactions to solar radiation, temperature and balance between nutrient availabilities and phytoplankton requirements. Computers program for water quality problems helps users interpret and predict water quality responses to natural phenomena. But model parameters and initial condition needs hydrodynamic and hydrologic measures in long time interval, with combination of laboratory studies. Lake Gracanka (Serbia, Yugoslavia) is good example for description of the processes kinetics of phytoplankton. But, simulation model can not be used to guide future monitoring efforts without needing measuring and developing network of measuring station.

A pre-diabetes syndrome induced by endocrine disruptors (ED) was recently demonstrated in the model amphibian Silurana (Xenopus) tropicalis and was suggested to be a potential cause of amphibian population decline. However, such effects have not been found in wild type frogs exposed to ED and the capacity of amphibians to physiologically develop diabetes under natural conditions has not been confirmed. This study showed that a high fat diet (HFD) model displaying the important characteristics of mammal HFD models including glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) can be developed with green frogs (Pelophylax spp.). Wild green frogs exposed to 10 μg L⁻¹ benzo [a]pyrene (BaP) for 18 h also displayed several characteristics of the pre-diabetes phenotype previously observed in Xenopus including glucose intolerance, gluconeogenesis activation and insulin resistance. The study results confirmed that metabolic disorders induced by ED in wild green frogs are typical of the pre-diabetes phenotype and could serve as a starting point for field studies to determine the role of ED in the decline of amphibian populations. From an environmental perspective, the response of wild green frogs to different ED (10 μg L⁻¹) suggests that a simple glucose-tolerance test could be used on wild anurans to identify bodies of water polluted with metabolic disruptors that could affect species fitness.

Threatened or endangered reptiles, such as sea turtles, are generally understudied within the field of wildlife toxicology, with even fewer studies on how contaminants affect threatened species reproduction. This paper aimed to better inform threatened species conservation by systematically and quantitatively reviewing available research on the reproductive toxicology of all reptiles, threatened and non-threatened. This review found 178 studies that matched our search criteria. These papers were categorized into location conducted, taxa studied, species studied, effects found, and chemicals investigated. The most studied taxa were turtles (n = 87 studies, 49%), alligators/crocodiles (n = 54, 30%), and lizards (n = 37, 21%). Maternal transfer, sex steroid alterations, sex reversal, altered sexual development, developmental abnormalities, and egg contamination were the most common effects found across all reptile taxa, providing guidance for avenues of research into threatened species. Maternal transfer of contaminants was found across all taxa, and taking into account the foraging behavior of sea turtles, could help elucidate differences in maternal transfer seen at nesting beaches. Sex steroid alterations were a common effect found with contaminant exposure, indicating the potential to use sex steroids as biomarkers along with traditional biomarkers such as vitellogenin. Sex reversal through chemical exposure was commonly found among species that exhibit temperature dependent sex determination, indicating the potential for both environmental pollution and climate change to disrupt population dynamics of many reptile species, including sea turtles. Few studies used in vitro, DNA, or molecular methodologies, indicating the need for more research using high-throughput, non-invasive, and cost-effective tools for threatened species research. The prevalence of developmental abnormalities and altered sexual development and function indicates the need to further study how anthropogenic pollutants affect reproductive output in threatened reptiles.

Fucus virsoides is an ecologically important canopy-forming brown algae endemic to the Adriatic Sea. Once widespread in marine coastal areas, this species underwent a rapid population decline and is now confined to small residual areas. Although the reasons behind this progressive disappearance are still a matter of debate, F. virsoides may suffer, like other macroalgae, from the potential toxic effects of glyphosate-based herbicides.Here, through a transcriptomic approach, we investigate the molecular basis of the high susceptibility of this species to glyphosate solution, previously observed at the morphological and eco-physiological levels. By simulating runoff event in a factorial experiment, we exposed F. virsoides to glyphosate (Roundup® 2.0), either alone or in association with nutrient enrichment, highlighting significant alterations of gene expression profiles that were already visible after three days of exposure. In particular, glyphosate exposure determined the near-complete expression shutdown of several genes involved in photosynthesis, protein synthesis and stress response molecular pathways. Curiously, these detrimental effects were partially mitigated by nutrient supplementation, which may explain the survival of relict population in confined areas with high nutrient inputs.

Pesticides, in particular insecticides, can be very beneficial but have also been found to have harmful side effects on non-target insects. Butterflies play an important role in ecosystems, are well monitored and are recognised as good indicators of environmental health. The amount of information already known about butterfly ecology and the increased availability of genomes make them a very valuable model for the study of non-target effects of pesticide usage. The effects of pesticides are not simply linear, but complex through their interactions with a large variety of biotic and abiotic factors. Furthermore, these effects manifest themselves at a variety of levels, from the molecular to metapopulation level. Research should therefore aim to dissect these complex effects at a number of levels, but as we discuss in this review, this is seldom if ever done in butterflies. We suggest that in order dissect the complex effects of pesticides on butterflies we need to integrate detailed molecular studies, including characterising sequence variability of relevant target genes, with more classical evolutionary ecology; from direct toxicity tests on individual larvae in the laboratory to field studies that consider the potentiation of pesticides by ecologically relevant environmental biotic and abiotic stressors. Such integration would better inform population-level responses across broad geographical scales and provide more in-depth information about the non-target impacts of pesticides.

Light pollution or artificial light at night (ALAN) is an increasing, worldwide challenge that affects many aspects of animal behaviour. Interestingly, the response to ALAN varies widely among individuals within a population and variation in personality (consistent individual differences in behaviour) may be an important factor explaining this variation. Consistent individual differences in exploration behaviour in particular may relate to the response to ALAN, as increasing evidence indicates its relation with how individuals respond to novelty and how they cope with anthropogenic modifications of the environment. Here, we assayed exploration behaviour in a novel environment as a proxy for personality variation in great tits (Parus major). We observed individual sleep behaviour over two consecutive nights, with birds sleeping under natural dark conditions the first night and confronted with ALAN inside the nest box on the second night, representing a modified and novel roosting environment. We examined whether roosting decisions when confronted with a camera (novel object), and subsequently with ALAN, were personality-dependent, as this could potentially create sampling bias. Finally, we assessed whether experimentally challenging individuals with ALAN induced personality-dependent changes in sleep behaviour.Slow and fast explorers were equally likely to roost in a nest box when confronted with either a camera or artificial light inside, indicating the absence of personality-dependent sampling bias or avoidance of exposure to ALAN. Moreover, slow and fast explorers were equally disrupted in their sleep behaviour when challenged with ALAN. Whether other behavioural and physiological effects of ALAN are personality-dependent remains to be determined. Moreover, the sensitivity to disturbance of different behavioural types might depend on the behavioural context and the specific type of challenge in question. In our increasingly urbanized world, determining whether the effects of anthropogenic stressors depend on personality type will be of paramount importance as it may affect population dynamics.

Hazard assessment of chemical contaminants often relies on short term or partial life-cycle ecotoxicological tests, while the impact of low dose throughout the entire life cycle of species across multiple generations has been neglected. This study aimed at identifying the individual and population-level consequences of chronic water contamination by environmental concentrations of three organic micropollutants, ibuprofen, bisphenol A and benzo[a]pyrene, on Aedes aegypti mosquito populations in experimental conditions. Life-history assays spanning the full life-cycle of exposed individuals and their progeny associated with population dynamics modelling evidenced life-history traits alterations in unexposed progenies of individuals chronically exposed to 1 μg/L ibuprofen or 0.6 μg/L benzo[a]pyrene. The progeny of individuals exposed to ibuprofen showed an accelerated development while the progeny of individuals exposed to benzo[a]pyrene showed a developmental acceleration associated with an increase in mortality rate during development. These life-history changes due to pollutants exposure resulted in relatively shallow increase of Ae. aegypti asymptotic population growth rate. Multigenerational exposure for six generations revealed an evolution of population response to ibuprofen and benzo[a]pyrene across generations, leading to a loss of previously identified transgenerational effects and to the emergence of a tolerance to the bioinsecticide Bacillus turingiensis israelensis (Bti). This study shed light on the short and long term impact of environmentally relevant doses of ibuprofen and benzo[a]pyrene on Ae. aegypti life-history traits and insecticide tolerance, raising unprecedented perspectives about the influence of surface water pollution on vector-control strategies. Overall, our approach highlights the importance of considering the entire life cycle of organisms, and the necessity to assess the transgenerational effects of pollutants in ecotoxicological studies for ecological risk assessment. Finally, this multi-generational study gives new insight about the influence of surface water pollution on microevolutionary processes.

The life cycle parameters of the benthic invertebrate Chironomus riparius make it a relevant organism for use in multi-generation chronic ecotoxicology tests. Since studies on chronic exposures with fullerene carbon nanoparticles have revealed adverse effects at lower concentration ranges, it is crucial to gain understanding of the consequences in following generations. The aims of this study were to investigate whether sediment-associated fullereneC60 impacts on C. riparius emergence and breeding, thus affecting the growth of the second generation. Larvae were exposed to fullerene-spiked sediment at concentrations of 0.5, 10 and 40 mg/kg sediment dw. Total emergence and breeding success were monitored after the first generation and the newly hatched larvae from the first generation exposure were transferred either to continuous exposure or to pristine sediments without fullerene. Findings indicate that the presence of fullerenes have major impacts on the first generation, mainly shown as delayed emergence time of females. Increased larval growth was observed in the second generation, and we conclude that the C. riparius response to fullerene exposure indicated significant signs of recovery in second-generation larval growth. The result shows the effects to be important for population dynamics, revealing delayed female emergence time, which leads to situation where adults’ breeding is inhibited.

Organisms are regularly subjected to abiotic stressors related to increasing anthropogenic activities, including chemicals and climatic changes that induce major stresses. Based on various key taxa involved in ecosystem functioning (photosynthetic microorganisms, plants, invertebrates), we review how organisms respond and adapt to chemical- and temperature-induced stresses from molecular to population level. Using field-realistic studies, our integrative analysis aims to compare i) how molecular and physiological mechanisms related to protection, repair and energy allocation can impact life history traits of stressed organisms, and ii) to what extent trait responses influence individual and population responses. Common response mechanisms are evident at molecular and cellular scales but become rather difficult to define at higher levels due to evolutionary distance and environmental complexity. We provide new insights into the understanding of the impact of molecular and cellular responses on individual and population dynamics and assess the potential related effects on communities and ecosystem functioning.

Environmental contaminants are implicated in the global decline of amphibian populations. Copper (Cu) is a widespread contaminant that can be toxic at concentrations just above the normal physiological range. In the present study we examined the effects of chronic Cu aqueous exposure on embryos and larvae of southern toads, Anaxyrus (Bufo) terrestris. Measurable levels of Cu were found in larvae, with tissue concentrations up to 27.5 μg Cu/g dry mass. Aqueous concentrations of Cu as low as 10 μg/L significantly reduced survival to the free-swimming stage and no larvae reached metamorphosis at concentrations above 15 μg/L. Clutches from populations with prior Cu exposure had the lowest survivorship. Among several populations there was significant variation in survivorship at different levels of Cu. More data are needed to understand the underlying causes of within- and among-population resilience to anthropogenic stressors.