The micro-evolutionary potential of Daphnia magna population exposed to temperature and cadmium stress

Abstract

This study examines micro-evolutionary aspects of a natural Daphnia magna population exposed to Cd. To this end, a set of hypotheses related to micro-evolutionary responses and to how these are influenced by temperature and Cd stress, were tested. Life-table experiments were conducted with 14 D. magna clones collected from an unpolluted lake following a 2x2 design with Cd concentration and temperature as the factors (control vs. 5 microg/L cadmium, 20 vs. 24 degrees C). Several fitness traits were monitored during 21 days. Our results demonstrate (1) that chemicals can have effects on key population genetic characteristics such as genetic variation and between-trait correlations and (2) that these effects may differ depending on temperature. Their findings also suggests that further research is needed to understand the importance of combined chemical-global warming stress for micro-evolutionary responses of organisms. These aspects are currently not accounted for in any regulatory environmental risk assessment procedure.