Effects of water quality on aspects of reproductive biology of Cnesterodon decemmaculatus

BONIFACIO, ALEJO FABIAN; BONANSEA, ROCÍO INÉS; RAUTENBERG, GISELA EVELÍN; AMÉ, MARÍA VALERIA; RAUTENBERG, GISELA EVELÍN; AMÉ, MARÍA VALERIA; ZAMBRANO, MICAELA JIMENA; FILIPPI, IOHANNA; HUED, ANDREA CECILIA; ZAMBRANO, MICAELA JIMENA; FILIPPI, IOHANNA; HUED, ANDREA CECILIA; BONIFACIO, ALEJO FABIAN; BONANSEA, ROCÍO INÉS

THE SCIENCE OF TOTAL ENVIRONMENT

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2018 vol. 645 p. 10 - 21

0048-9697

The Suquía River basin (Córdoba, Argentina) is under a strong negative impact due to multiple sources of anthropicpollution. The main goal of our study was to evaluate if variations in the water quality of Suquía riverbasin affect the reproductive biology of Cnesterodon decemmaculatus and determine if the responses providedby the species can be considered as biomarkers of river quality. This assessmentwas performed through the measurementof morphological, histological and somatic parameters in adult males collected at four sampling sitesduring the beginning and the end of the breeding season. The water quality evaluation carried out through theestimation of a water quality index (WQI) and pesticides concentrations in water, revealed a pollution gradientalong the studied basin. The same variation pattern was registered for the somatic index. In addition, the analysisof themorphology of the male copulatory organ (gonopodium) showed that individuals collected at Córdoba cityhad the lowest Gonopodium-Somatic Index (Gonop-SI) value, while those sampled at the most polluted siteshowed abnormalities in the small structures of the gonopodium. On the other hand, few histological alterationswere found in the liverwhereas no alterationswere found in gonads along the river. The results obtained allowedus to characterize the environmental conditions of the studied basin and demonstrated the water quality deteriorationalong the Suquía River.