Surface binding of contaminants by algae: Consequences for lethal toxicity and feeding toDaphnia magnastraus

Abstract Freshwater algae, as with all suspended particulate matter in the water column, exhibit a net negative charge resulting in an affinity for positively charged species, such as toxic metal cations, which will readily adsorb to algal cell surfaces. In this study, the adsorption of a representative toxic metal cadmium cation (Cd2+) to a freshwater algal species, Chlorella vulgaris, was investigated using environmentally realistic concentrations of both. A further study of the effects of this particulate adsorption of Cd2+ on lethal toxicity and feeding in Daphnia magna was conducted. Two apparently contrasting effects were observed. For the D. magna feeding study, cell ingestion was inhibited, leading to reduced growth and reproduction. Experiments comparing the effect of algal-bound cadmium and dissolved forms of cadmium demonstrate that this inhibition is almost entirely due to the surface-bound fraction of ions. However, at concentrations of dissolved cadmium that are lethal to Daphnia, algal cells were found to reduce toxicity. Such findings indicate the importance of food ration in laboratory-based toxicity tests as well as the difficulty in predicting the environmental fate and effect of contaminants using such tests.