Growth and reproduction effects and transgenerational effects of nonylphenol in Moina mongolica Daday (Crustacea: Cladocera)

An experimental ecology method was used to study the acute toxicity of nonylphenol (NP) and the effects of NP on growth, reproduction, and population growth in Moina mongolica. The effects were studied in a parent generation exposed to NP and three generations of offspring (F1, F2, and F3) not exposed to NP. The acute 24- and 48-h median lethal concentrations (LC50) of M. mongolica were 0.066 and 0.046 mg L−1, respectively, indicating that NP is very toxic to M. mongolica. In chronic exposure experiments using parent M. mongolica, NP clearly inhibited the lifespan, reproductive volume, total molting time, end-body length, and population growth parameters. In the recovery generations in a clean environment, three generations still suffered from toxic effects, with toxic amplification in generation F1. Generations F2 and F3 clearly followed a recovery trend in the groups in which the parents were exposed to 0.001–0.007 mg L−1 NP but recovered slowly in the groups in which the parents were exposed to 0.009 and 0.011 mg L−1 NP. The results indicated that NP has overt reproductive toxic and transgenerational effects on M. mongolica. Further studies of the damage caused to the aquatic environment by hormone-like chemicals such as NP should therefore be performed.