Invertebrates, terrestrial copper

Table 3.4 Effects of Copper on Representative Terrestrial Plants and Invertebrates Organism, Copper Concentration or Dose,...

Copper concentrations in terrestrial invertebrates from industrialized areas range from 137 to 408 mg/kg DW. Soil invertebrates are not likely to accumulate copper but are important in recycling copper through terrestrial food webs. Aquatic invertebrates seldom contain as much as 95 mg Cu/kg DW, regardless of collection locale. Exceptions include whole amphipods and lobster hepatopan-creas (335 to 340 mg/kg DW) from copper-contaminated sites and many species of molluscs that normally contain 1100 to 6500 mg Cu/kg DW (Table 3.3). 

Adverse effects of copper deficiency can be documented in terrestrial plants and invertebrates, poultry, small laboratory animals, livestock — especially ruminants — and humans. Data are scarce or missing on copper deficiency effects in aquatic plants and animals and in avian and mammalian wildlife. Copper deficiency in sheep, the most sensitive ruminant mammal, is associated with depressed growth, bone disorders, depigmentation of hair or wool, abnormal wool growth, fetal death and resorption, depressed estrous, heart failure, cardiovascular defects, gastrointestinal disturbances, swayback, pathologic lesions, and degeneration of the motor tracts of the spinal cord (NAS 1977). 

No evidence of copper deficiency exists in terrestrial species of invertebrates examined. However, relatively low concentrations of copper stimulated growth and reproduction. Reproduction in mites (Platynothrus peltifer) increases when fed diets containing 28 mg Cu/kg DW (vs. 13 mg/kg in controls) for 3 months (Denneman and van Straalen 1991). Also, juveniles of earthworms (Eisenia andrei) show increased growth at 18 mg Cu/kg DW soil after 12 weeks (van Gestel et al. 1991). 

Copper is toxic to sensitive species of terrestrial vegetation at >40 pg/L nutrient solution (seedlings of pines, Pirns spp.), at >10 mg/kg DW leaves (cucumber, Cucumis sativus), and >60 mg extractable Cu/kg DW soil (sweet orange, Citrus sinensis Table 3.4). Among sensitive species of terrestrial invertebrates, adverse effects on survival, growth, or reproduction occur at 2 pg Cu/cm2 on paper discs (earthworms), >50 mg Cu/kg diet (larvae of gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar), and 53 to 70 mg Cu/kg DW soil (earthworms and soil nematodes Table 3.4). 

Proposed copper criteria for the protection of agricultural crops, aquatic life, terrestrial invertebrates, poultry, laboratory white rats, livestock, and human health are summarized in Table 3.8. 

Copper discharges to the global biosphere are due primarily to human activities, especially mining, smelting, and refining copper and the treatment and recycling of municipal and industrial wastes. Some copper compounds, especially copper sulfate, also contribute to environmental copper burdens because they are widely and intensively used in confined geographic areas to control nuisance species of aquatic plants and invertebrates, diseases of terrestrial crop plants, and ectoparasites of fish and livestock. 

Numerous and disparate copper criteria are proposed for protecting the health of agricultural crops, aquatic life, terrestrial invertebrates, poultry, laboratory white rats, and humans (Table 3.8) however, no copper criteria are now available for protection of avian and mammalian wildlife, and this needs to be rectified. Several of the proposed criteria do not adequately protect sensitive species of plants and animals and need to be reexamined. Other research areas that merit additional effort include biomarkers of early copper stress copper interactions with interrelated trace elements in cases of deficiency and excess copper status effects on disease resistance, cancer, mutagenicity, and birth defects mechanisms of copper tolerance or acclimatization and chemical speciation of copper, including measurement of flux rates of ionic copper from metallic copper. 

Effects of copper on representative terrestrial plants and invertebrates... 

Bundy JG, Sidhu JK, Rana F, Spurgeon DJ, Svendsen C, Wren JF, Stiirzenbaum SR, Morgan AJ, Kille P. 2008. Systems toxicology approach identifies coordinated metabolic responses to copper in a terrestrial non-model invertebrate, the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus. BMC Biol 6 25 (doi 10.1186/1741-7007-6-25). 

Gibb, J.O.T., Svendsen, C., Weeks, J.M. and Nicholson, J.K. (1997b) H-l NMR spectroscopic investigations of tissue metabolite biomarker response to Cu(II) exposure in terrestrial invertebrates identification of free histidine as a novel biomarker of exposure to copper in earthworms. Biomarkers, 2, 295-302. 

Terrestrial Invertebrates Most studies conducted in this area have been carried out in snails, which accumulate copper in relation to their environmental exposure. The efficiency of copper accumulation in this species always exceeded 95% and this accumulation occurs mostly in the snail foot - that is, the edible part (Moser and Wieser 1979, Dallinger and Wieser 1984). Isopods can also accumulate copper, but only when it is increased in... 

Copper concentrations in terrestrial invertebrates from industrialized areas range from... 

Copper burdens in terrestrial invertebrates are highest in organisms collected near industrial locations and urban areas or from copper-contaminated soils. The highest copper concentration recorded among terrestrial invertebrates is 408.0 mg Cu/kg DW soft parts in gastropods from urban areas. Copper concentrations in pine moths (Bupalus piniarius) and pine noctuids (Panolis flammea) from industrialized areas range from 89.0 to... 

Among sensitive species of terrestrial invertebrates, earthworms show disrupted enzyme activities at whole body concentrations as low as 28.5 mg Cu/kg DW. Soil copper concentrations between 53.0 and 100.0 mg/kg DW kill soil nematodes and soil faunal communities and cause a reduction in cocoon production of earthworms. Diets that contain between 50.0 and 63.0 mg Cu/kg ration inhibit development and reproduction in gypsy moths and oribatid mites. The wood louse (Porcellio scaber), an isopod, is proposed as a bioindicator of copper contamination in terrestrial ecosystems because whole body concentrations seem to reflect copper loadings in the isopod s immediate environment. More research is recommended on isopods and other sentinel organisms. 

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