Addressing the recovery of feeding rates in post-exposure feeding bioassays: Cyathura carinata as a case study

Abstract

Post-exposure bioassays are used in environmental assessment as a cost-effective tool, but the effects of organism's recovery after exposure to pollutant has not yet been addressed in detail. The recoveries of post-exposure feeding rates after being exposed to two sublethal concentrations of cadmium during two different exposure periods (48. h and 96. h) were evaluated under laboratory conditions using the estuarine isopod Cyathura carinata. Results showed that feeding depression was a stable endpoint up to 24. h after cadmium exposure, which is useful for ecotoxicological bioassays.