
Human activity is driving biodiversity loss at an alarming rate. Exposure of ecosystems to environmental stressors is becoming more prevalent as a result of human activity. The effects of multiple stressors (global warming, pollutant mixture and invasive predator cue) were assessed using the great pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, which has been demonstrated as an effective model species for environmental and toxicity tests. Stressors were applied singly and in combinations to test the effects on hatching, survival, growth and reproductive outputs upon long term exposure (4.5 months). Initially, stressors were applied singly at four exposure levels (and a control) with the aim of generating dose-response curves. Effects were observed in response to all stressors including at the lowest exposure level for the pollutant mixture (0.05 µg/L). Additionally, it was shown for the first time that L. stagnalis responds both behaviourally and physiologically towards predator cue from the invasive signal crayfish (Pacifasticus leniusculus). Effect levels from the single stressor studies were used to select the exposure levels for the multiple stressor study whereby an EC10 and EC30 level were used which encompassed low and environmentally relevant exposure levels for each stressor (EC10: 20.2 °C, 0.015 µg/L, 10 % cue; EC30: 22 °C, 0.041 µg/L, 57.5 % cue). Combinations of stressors were applied to investigate the role of biological thresholds – the “dominance hypothesis” - and the importance of stressor intensity and identity in driving observed physiological responses. The dominance hypothesisassumes that there are response thresholds so that when one stressor is present at sufficiently high levels, the addition of other stressors has little impact. The importance of stressor number, stressor identity and stressor intensity can also be encompassed within the dominance hypothesis. Here, the dominance hypothesis is partially supported where effects observed in response to single stressors did not differ when compared to multiple stressor exposures. However, contradicting this theory, additional effects were observed in response to the multiple stressor exposures that were not observed in response to single stressor exposures. Overall, there appeared to be a general stress response since effects were broadly similar across treatments regardless of the stressor combinations.
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