Larval development test in the sediment with the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa (Dana, 1848)

In recent years new ecotoxicological protocols with the planktonic calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa have been developed to evaluate chronic effects due to chemicals and marine and brackish water matrices. This interest is linked to the need to deepen the knowledge on the effects of pollutants on the pelagic compartment and provide a useful tool for a qualitative evaluation of environmental matrices. The protocol for larval development in the sediment with the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa (LDR-S), treated in the present booklet, is a variant of  ISO 16778 (2015) protocol and provides for its peculiar application in the presence of sediment. End-point is the rate of larval development from the naupliar stage to copepodid. This test was included in the DM n. 173 (15 July 2016). The purpose of this Booklet is to facilitate the achievement of a good level of executive autonomy of the operators and to start intercalibration tests in order to define a national control map.

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