Toxicity of the cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii to Daphnia magna

The effect of two strains of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii on the survivorship, somatic growth, and detoxification processes of juvenile Daphnia magna were investigated. Both strains of C. raciborskii (and also Ankistrodesmus falcatus, used as the control) were given to newborn D. magna at equivalent biovolumes. The survival curves for D. magna subjected to the two C. raciborskii treatments differed from those of the starved and fed treatments. After 48 h of exposure, the percentage of D. magna surviving after exposure to Cylin-A (a cylindrospermopsin-producing strain isolated from Australia) and Cylin-P (a non-cylindrospermopsin-producing strain isolated from Portugal) was 10.00% and 93.33%, respectively. The strain that produces cylindrospermopsin caused the greatest toxic effect in juvenile D. magna. Statistically significant differences in D. magna body size between the four treatments (Cylin-A, Cylin-P, A. falcatus, and starved) were detected after 48 h of exposure. The juvenile D. magna that received the two C. raciborskii treatments showed an increase in size (relative to their size at T(0)) of 2.54% and 38.14%, respectively. These values were statistically significantly different than those of the A. falcatus-fed control (55.54%) and the starved control (11.47%). In both C. raciborskii treatments there was a tendency for increased GST enzyme activities after 24 h of exposure. Cylindrospermopsin was detected (HPLC-MS/MS) in D. magna tissues after 24 and 48 h (0.025 and 0.02 ng animal(-)1, respectively). The results of this study indicate that C. raciborskii can affect the fitness and growth potential of juvenile D. magna.