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Recovery Of Fathead Minnows (Pimephales Promelas) Following Episodic Copper Exposure: A Biochemical, Physiological, Individual, And Population Perspective, Holly Zahner

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The US EPA utilizes the Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) when developing site-specific water-quality criteria for copper. The BLM was calibrated using toxicity data from fixed duration continuous exposures (48 or 96h LC50). However, exposures of copper in natural aquatic systems typically vary in concentration, duration, and may occur multiple times over the life-span of an organism. Additionally, organisms will experience periods in copper free water, potentially allowing them to detoxify and recover homeostasis. Yet, the BLM framework does not consider brief exposures (<24h), multiple exposures, latent responses, or organism recovery, potentially resulting in an inaccurate assessment of exposure toxicity. A recently proposed physiologically-based addition to the BLM will extend the applicability of the framework to brief, multiple pulse copper exposures. Thus, the overall goal of this research was to characterize the recovery of larval Pimephales promelas following episodic copper exposure at a biochemical, physiological, individual, and population level.
The response of whole-body sodium, whole-body Na+/K+-ATPase, and whole-body carbonic anhydrase in larval P. promleas was quantified …