Physiological profiling of indigenous aquatic microbial communities to determine toxic effects of metals

摘要

Conventional bioassays for environmental assessment frequently rely on nonindigenous single species. We employed an assay in which whole environmental samples were distinguished by the ability of the native heterotrophic microbial communities to oxidize 95 different sole carbon sources generating a community-level physiological profile (CLPP). The average metabolic response (AMR) to the 95 to the 95 variables defining the CLPP was used in laboratory bioassay studies with copper to construct dose- response curves over several different periods of exposure: 1 h (acute), 1 d, 2 d, and 4 d.