Metal stoichiometry in predicting Cd and Cu toxicity to a freshwater green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii [An article from: Environmental Pollution]

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Description:
In this study, we quantified the accumulation and toxicity of cadmium and copper in a freshwater green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, under different phosphate conditions. The accumulated Cd and Cu concentrations increased significantly with increasing ambient P concentrations and free metal ion concentrations. The metal:P ratio remained independent of the ambient P concentration. For the three pulse-amplitude-modulated parameters, the median inhibition concentrations were 1.5-1.6x and 2.0x higher, but the medium inhibition cellular quota was 2.2x and 1.2x lower for cells maintained at 0.1@mM P than for cells maintained at 10@mM P for Cd and Cu, respectively. Furthermore, the difference in metal toxicity decreased (for Cd) or disappeared (for Cu) when the toxicity was expressed by the metal:P ratio in the cells, indicating that the stoichiometry of metals and P can be better used to predict the toxicity of metals. It is necessary to consider the stoichiometry of metals in predicting metal toxicity in phytoplankton.