Demographic responses of the polychaete Dinophilus gyrociliatus to chromium exposure

The effects of chromium on the life history and demography of Dinophilus gyrociliatus (Polychaeta) were studied on a control and three treated cohorts kept in artificial seawater enriched with nominal concentrations of chromium at 1.0, 1.4, and 1.6 mug/ml. Survival and fecundity were significantly reduced by chromium. Fecundity was higher in the chromium treatments than in the control group at the beginning of the reproductive period; however, overall, the highest fecundity was observed in the control. Life expectancy, net growth rate, and generation time were also significantly reduced by chromium. The population growth rate (lambda) was higher in the treated animals than in the controls. The differences in lambda between the treated animals and the controls (Deltalambda) were almost completely due to the differences in the life tables observed during the first three weeks of life. The differences in survival between the treated and control animals did not contribute to Deltalambda. The contribution to Deltalambda of the slight increase in age-specific fecundity in the early reproductive events compensated for the marked decrease in overall fecundity in the treated animals. The complex effects of chromium enrichment on D. gyrociliatus underline the importance of analyzing both individual and population responses when assessing the effects of pollutants on organisms. Our results confirm that D. gyrociliatus might serve as an indicator species in confined areas of polluted seawater such as lagoons and harbors.