Intra- and interspecific toxicity data for nematodes exposed to metals

Twenty-four hour median lethal concentration (24hr-LC50) toxicity tests were performed with five species of nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans, Caenorhabditis briggsae, Pristionchus pacificus, Oscheius tipulae, and Oscheius myriophila) in response to copper chloride and zinc chloride. In addition, lethality tests were also performed with seven strains of C. elegans (N2 >1 year in culture, N2 newly acquired, N2 ancestral, ED3053, JU258, JU1171, and MY1) exposed to copper chloride. Nominal chemical concentrations were validated and analyzed according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency method 6010 using inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Files with raw toxicity data, LC50 calculations, and chemical concentration validation are all reported here. The results indicate that P. pacificus is the most sensitive species to both metals. Conversely, C. elegans is the least sensitive species to copper, but the second most sensitive to zinc, indicating that species relationships do not necessarily predict species sensitivity. We also found that the four wild strains of C. elegans are more sensitive than standard laboratory N2 strains to copper, especially the N2 strain that was cultured in the lab for >1 year, suggesting that long-term lab strains may be less sensitive to copper than their wild counterparts.