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Toxicity of Copper to Zooplankton¹

ABSTRACT

The toxicity of copper sulfate (CuSO₄·5H₂O) to zooplankton was studied. Bioassays on Daphnia pulex and Cyclops sp. yielded 96-hour TL_m values of 0.096 and 225.0 ppm, respectively. A treatment of 3 ppm copper sulfate to an outdoor pond was followed by a depression of cladoceran and rotifer populations. Addition of 3 ppm copper sulfate to a second pond occurred when cladoceran numbers were low; however, a combination of oxygen depletion, H₂S production and released copper from large masses of decomposing Chara apparently suppressed rotifer, copepod, and cladoceran populations. Treatment of 1 ppm copper sulfate to a third pond produced no discernible effects on cladocera. Stomach analyses conducted on green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus R.) indicated that the fish shifted to alternate food sources when cladocera disappeared from affected ponds.

Key Words: ostracods • copepods • cladocera • rotifier • Daphnia • Cyclops

¹ Contribution of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. 48823. This research was supported by a Predoctoral Research Fellowship (No. 5-F1-WP-26, 436-02) from the Water Quality Office of the Environmental Protection Agency.

² Assistant Professor of Bionucleonics, Department of Bionucleonics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.; and Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, respectively.

Received for publication July 13, 1973.