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Respiratory Levels and Adaptations in Four Freshwater Species of Gammarus (Crustacea: Amphipoda)
Author(s) -
Toman Mihael J.,
Dall Peter C.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
international review of hydrobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1522-2632
pISSN - 1434-2944
DOI - 10.1002/iroh.19980830308
Subject(s) - gammarus pulex , gammarus , amphipoda , pulex , biology , crustacean , oxygen , respiration , ecology , environmental chemistry , botany , zoology , chemistry , daphnia , organic chemistry
Respiration of four freshwater species of the amphipod crustacean Gammarus: G. fossarum, G. lacustris (river and lake), G. pulex and G. roeseli were measured in a closed, stirred respirometric chamber with a micro‐electrode. Oxygen consumption, expressed as weight‐specific oxygen uptake (R s ) in relation to decreasing oxygen concentration, varied at air saturation from 0.86 ( G. lacustris , lake) to 2.06 μl O 2 mg −1 AFDW h −1 ( G. pulex ). R s also differed intra‐specifically among the two populations of G. lacustris . G. lacustris (river), G. pulex and G. roeseli expressed moderate ability to regulate their oxygen consumption at decreasing oxygen concentrations, whereas the regulation ability was higher in G. lacustris (lake) and in G. fossarum , which maintain high oxygen uptake at oxygen levels >2 mg O 2 l −1 . All four Gammarus species are partial regulators in response to variations in oxygen concentration. The differences between species are considered too small to account for their natural distributions. It appears that the tolerances of Gammarus species to organic pollution depend only in part on oxygen conditions.