DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3kf74
title: Data from: Detecting copper toxicity in sediments: from the sub-individual level to the population level

description: 1.Sediments accumulate chemicals that can be toxic to biota and often
 contribute to aquatic ecosystem decline. Measuring mortality in
 laboratory-bred organisms is a common way to assess sediment toxicity.
 However, mortality-based responses of resilient laboratory organisms may
 not reflect indigenous macroinvertebrate responses, which can be
 relatively more sensitive to sediment toxicants. A possible solution is to
 also measure responses at the sub-individual level. 2.Several organism
 responses to sediment copper toxicity were assessed in a field-based
 microcosm. Responses of laboratory-bred chironomids and snails deployed in
 microcosms were compared at sub-individual (metabolomic and gene
 expression), individual (survival and dry weight) and population
 (reproduction) levels, and contrasted to the abundance of colonizing
 macroinvertebrates in the microcosms. 3.Colonizing macroinvertebrate
 abundance showed a range of sensitivities based on EC50 (effect dose 50%
 change). Chironomidae made up 94.5% of the microcosm macroinvertebrates,
 with Paratanytarsus the most sensitive genus (EC50: 89 mg/kg copper) and
 Procladius the least sensitive (EC50: 681 mg/kg). 4.Survival of
 laboratory-bred organisms was the least sensitive response, comparable to
 decreased abundance of the least sensitive macroinvertebrate. Juvenile
 production in the snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, was the most sensitive
 population level response (EC50: 121 mg/kg), in contrast the snail
 Physella acuta was relatively more tolerant (EC50: 298 mg/kg). 5.Changes
 in sub-individual responses (gene expression and metabolite abundance) in
 laboratory-bred chironomid, Chironomus tepperi, were evident at 60 mg/kg.
 These changes likely reflect the direct effects of copper exposure and
 represent metal-specific responses. 6.Synthesis and applications. We
 showed that copper toxicity in sediments could be readily detected through
 changes in gene expression and metabolites in laboratory-bred chironomids
 exposed in field-based microcosms. These responses were more sensitive
 than mortality, and detected copper levels that caused microcosm
 chironomid populations to decline. These novel approaches will provide
 managers with new tools to better assess sediment toxicity.
description: Chironomus_dryweight_rawDry weight data for deployed Chironomus teppericyst_metab_LC dataConcentrations of amine containing metabolites involved in the cysteine metabolism of Chironomus tepperi deployed in microcosms. Detected by LCMSother_LC_metab_dataConcentrations of amine containing metabolites not involved in the cysteine metabolism of Chironomus tepperi deployed in microcosms. Detected by LCMSGene expression dataGene expression data of the cysteine metabolism of Chironomus tepperi deployed in microcosmsMicrocosm abundance dataSpecies and abundance from copper spiked microcosmsPhysa_raw_dataSurvival and reproduction data of Physella acuta exposed in copper spiked microcosmsPotamopyrgus dataSurvival and reproduction data of Potamopyrgus antipodarum exposed in copper spiked microcosms