ANEMONE-LEACHATE

This repo organizes files and code for the single-stressor Anthopleura elegantissima leachate ecotoxicology exposure conducted by Sarah Tanja and Kip Howell in Spring Quarter, 2024 at the JPG Lab Aquatic Facility (Portage Bay Building).

In this experiment, we exposed an n=5 Anthopleura elegantissima, commonly known as the aggregating or pink-tipped anemones, to either 5 increasing concentrations (0.01mg/L, 0.1mg/L, 1mg/L, 10mg/L, 100mg/L) of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or photodegredated polypropylene (PP) for 48 hours.

After the exposure, we compared the resulting dark-adapted rapid light curves and rates of respirometry and photosynthesis of the treatment groups to the controls.

In summary:

• We found no differences in rapid light-curve parameters between the controls and treatments after 42 hours of exposure.
• Our respirometry and photosynthesis rates measurements were inconclusive, the duration of our respirometry runs (30mins) were insufficiently long to capture the low metabolic and photosynthetic rates of A. elegantissima, and we recommend longer respirometry runs (24hours) for future studies.

This pilot experiment gave us an introduction to:

• using a co-developed microplastic leachate protocol in ecotoxicological assays
• working with the temperate coastal A. elegantissima anemones as an emerging model
• the analysis of dark-adapted rapid light curves

Please see a summary of this pilot experiment here