INFLUENCE OF SYNTHETIC DETERGENTS ON THE PULMONARY AND DIRECT SURFACE RESPIRATION OF PLANORBARIUS (SUPERSPECIES) CORNEUS SENSU LATO ALLOSPECIES (MOLLUSCA, GASTROPODA, PULMONATA, PLANORBIDAE) OF THE HYDROLOGICAL NETWORK OF UKRAINE

Abstract

One of today’s environmental problems is the growing toxic effect of synthetic detergents on the Earth’s hydrosphere. These pollutants dissolve well in water and decompose slowly, so they can persist for a long time in hydroecosystems. Recently, the level of surface water pollution by synthetic surfaceactive substances has increased significantly in the reservoirs of Ukraine, which makes it necessary to study their impact on biota. Molluscs can be used as indicator objects to determine the degree of contamination of natural waters with xenobiotics, in particular, the horned clam as one of the most common and numerous species in the water network of Ukraine. This mollusc is represented by the superspecies complex Planorbarius (superspecies) corneus sensu lato, which includes two genetic vicariant allospecies – “western” and “eastern”, which differ in morphological, anatomical, chorological and ecological features. In order to find out the level of toxic effects of detergents on hydrobionts, the influence of different concentrations (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 mg/dm3) of these xenobiotics on the indicators of pulmonary and surface diffuse respiration of allospecies P. corneus s. lato. A combined bimodal way of breathing is characteristic of horned owls. During lung breathing, they consume oxygen from the atmospheric air, and during superficial diffuse breathing, they consume oxygen dissolved in water, which enters percutaneously through the thin-walled membranes of the epithelial cells of the body coverings and adaptive gills. Under the influence of the applied concentrations of detergents, a rapid development of the pathological process of their poisoning, which is represented by 5 phases – latent, stimulating, depressive, sublethal and lethal, was observed in the experimental molluscs. It was found that the values of the investigated indicators of both methods of breathing in the “eastern” allospecies were statistically significantly lower compared to those in the “western” allospecies (р ≤ 0,05–0,001). This indicates the higher sensitivity and lower endurance of the first of them to the effect of the used pollutants.