A video-based tracking analysis to assess the chronic toxic effects of fluoride ion on the aquatic snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Hydrobiidae, Mollusca)

Short-term lethal bioassays are not suited for assessing the real effects of pollutants in natural ecosystems, as their concentrations are usually unrealistic under an ecological point of view. By contrast, chronic bioassays are more realistic for assessing effects on aquatic animals, especially when behavioural endpoints are used. These endpoints are a good link between physiological and ecological effects. Among behavioural bioassays, those based on automated image analysis following video-recording have the advantage of being quantitative and non-subjective tests. The present study focuses on the assessment of chronic (63 days) effects of fluoride ion (F−) on the survival, proportion of affected animals (dead plus immobile animals) and several behavioural endpoints (monitored by video-recording and image analysis system) of the aquatic snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Hydrobiidae, Mollusca). The bioassay consisted of one control and three actual fluoride concentrations (4.68, 18.6, and 37.1 mg F−/L) with 12 replicates in each treatment. The endpoints were monitored every 7 day of continuous exposure to fluoride ion. The highest fluoride concentrations killed all animals at the end of the bioassay. By contrast no animals died in the lowest fluoride treatment, but snails showed several alterations of behaviour: increase heterogeneity of velocity among successive recording periods, increase of the time to escape from a marked circle, and reduction of the heterogeneity in the utilization of space. Therefore, most of the behavioural endpoints were sensitive to environmentally realistic non-lethal fluoride concentrations, being useful parameters for ecological risk assessment. The ecological relevance of these findings is discussed.

► Fluoride causes impairment on the behaviour of the aquatic snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum.
► Behavioural effects are caused at environmental realistic concentrations.
► Video-based analysis is a useful tool to assess invertebrate behaviour.
► This is a novel study on the long-term effects (63 days) of fluoride ion on invertebrates.