
Gudrun De BoeckUniversity of Antwerp | UA · Department of Biology
Gudrun De Boeck
PhD
About
232
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Introduction
Our research group ECOSPHERE (https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/research-groups/ecosphere/) studies aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that are continuously challenged by natural and anthropogenic stressors. My research focuses on effects of environmental factors (hypoxia, temperature, salinity, heavy metals, stress hormones...) on energy metabolism and iono- and osmoregulation of different marine and freshwater fish and more recently we started using transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics.
Additional affiliations
April 1997 - October 1997
March 2006 - present
Publications
Publications (232)
Elasmobranch fishes (i.e., sharks, skates, and rays) exhibit remarkable wound‐healing capabilities and consistently maintain a high capacity for tissue regeneration throughout their lives. This high capacity for wound healing may be particularly important for neonatal elasmobranchs that are still developing their immune system. However, little is k...
The tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum, G. Cuvier 1818) thrives both in the ion‐poor waters of the Amazon and in commercial aquaculture. In both, environmental conditions can be harsh due to low ion levels, occasional high salt challenges (in aquaculture), low pH, extreme PO2 levels (hypoxia and hyperoxia), high PCO2 levels (hypercapnia), high ammonia...
Fish is an important source of animal protein for many people living around Lake Malawi. The evaluation of population structure and genetic diversity can yield useful information for management and conservation of fish species but is complicated in Lake Malawi by the close genetic relatedness of species of the recent cichlid adaptive radiation. In...
The role of behaviour in animal physiology is much debated, with researchers divided between the traditional view that separates physiology and behaviour, and a progressive perspective that sees behaviour as a physiological effector. We advocate for the latter, and in this Commentary, we argue that behaviour is inherently a physiological process. T...
Pacific spiny dogfish, Squalus suckleyi, move to shallow coastal waters during critical reproductive life stages and are thus at risk of encountering hypoxic events which occur more frequently in these areas. For effective conservation management, we need to fully understand the consequences of hypoxia on marine key species such as elasmobranchs. B...
Elasmobranch (i.e. sharks, skates, and rays) behaviours have been found to align with moon phases; yet, it is not fully understood how the moon influences elasmobranchs’ foraging habits. In coastal ecosystems, tidal changes are typically seen as the primary influence on the behavioural rhythms of fishes, which are linked to the lunar cycle. Sharks...
Freshwater ecosystems are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic eutrophication, including high nitrogen. In addition, climate change is leading to more intense and frequent heatwaves, which have enormous impacts on all trophic levels of the ecosystem. Any change in the lower trophic levels, e.g., the phytoplankton, also introduces stress to higher...
Mercury can be very toxic at low environmental concentrations by impairing immunological, neurological, and other vital pathways in humans and animals. Aquatic ecosystems are heavily impacted by mercury pollution, with evidence of biomagnification through the food web. We examined the effect of mercury toxicity on the spleen, one of the primary imm...
Fish is an important source of animal protein for many people living around Lake Malawi. The evaluation of population structure and genetic diversity can yield useful information for management and conservation of fish species but is complicated in Lake Malawi by the close genetic relatedness of species of the recent cichlid adaptive radiation. In...
Background
The iono- and osmoregulatory capacities of marine teleosts, such as European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) are expected to be challenged by high carbon dioxide exposure, and the adverse effects of elevated CO2 could be amplified when such fish migrate into less buffered hypo-osmotic estuarine environments. Therefore, the effects of inc...
Aquatic biota are threatened by climate warming as well as other anthropogenic stressors such as eutrophication by phosphates and nitrate. However, it remains unclear how nitrate exposure can alter the resilience of microalgae to climate warming, particularly heatwaves. To get a better understanding of these processes, we investigated the effect of...
Stress and elevated plasma cortisol in salmonids have been linked with pathological remodeling of the heart and deterioration of fitness and welfare. However, these associations were based on biomarkers that fail to provide a retrospective view of stress. This study is the first whereby the association of long-term stress, using scale cortisol as c...
The effects of increased CO2 on the physiological responses of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) which were progressively acclimated to 32 ppt, 10 ppt and 2.5 ppt were investigated. Following acclimation to different salinities for two weeks, fish were exposed to present-day (400 µatm) and future (1000 µatm) atmospheric CO2 for 1, 3, 7 and 2...
The zebrafish (Danio rerio, Hamilton, 1822) is one of the most important fish model species in scientific research, with millions of fish housed in laboratory animal facilities around the world. During husbandry, it is necessary to regularly handle the fish, which could cause short‐ and long‐term stress, possibly affecting both fish welfare and exp...
Sharks can incur a range of external injuries throughout their lives that originate from various sources, but some of the most notable wounds in viviparous shark neonates are at the umbilicus. Umbilical wounds typically heal within 1 to 2 months post-parturition, depending on the species, and are therefore often used as an indicator of neonatal lif...
An endless list of new chemicals are entering nature, which makes it an impossible task to assess all possible mixture combinations at all possible concentrations and conditions that are leading to the ubiquitous anthropogenic impacts on the aquatic environment resulting from deteriorating water quality. Therefore, ecotoxicology is moving more towa...
In this review, we synthesize information on the mechanisms of chronic Cu toxicity using an adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework and identify three primary pathways for chronic Cu toxicity: disruption of sodium homeostasis, effects on bioenergetics, and oxidative stress. Unlike acute Cu toxicity, disruption of sodium homeostasis is not a driving...
Water pollution may be a serious environmental problem for Lake Hawassa, an important fishing and recreational site as well as a drinking-water source in Ethiopia. The present study aims at determining the distribution of metals and metalloids in the lake's water, sediment and fish tissues and assessing the resulting human health and ecological ris...
Toxicity imposed by organophosphate pesticides to the freshwater cultivable fish species mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) was assessed under laboratory conditions. Healthy juveniles were exposed to chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos, and their equitoxic mixture in geometric series. Median lethal concentrations of chlorpyrifos were found to be 0.906 (0.689–1.179),...
Seafood has a great ecological and nutritional value for human and wildlife communities. However, accumulation of mercury (Hg) in fish is a concern to animal and human health. There is a crucial need to understand Hg speciation in marine organisms through controlled feeding experiments. This study represents a first assessment of the biological pro...
Scientific research addressing environmental conditions of aquatic ecosystems has high priority in Peru. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge on environmental contamination of Peruvian marine ecosystems. To address this knowledge gap, this review article summarizes the available information in order to estimate the environmental health status...
This study investigated the possibility to improve the use of plant based feed in common carp (Cyprinus carpio), via feeding plant based diet from the early life stage. Fry, obtained from larvae produced by common carp broodstock fed with either of two diets viz. fish based diet (F diet) or plant based diet (P diet), were stocked into six earthen p...
Climate warming is a threat of imminent concern that may exacerbate the impact of nitrate pollution on fish fitness. These stressors can individually affect the aerobic capacity and stress tolerance of fish. In combination, they may interact in unexpected ways where exposure to one stressor may heighten or reduce the resilience to another stressor...
Anthropogenic stressors, such as pollutants, act as selective factors that can leave measurable changes in allele frequencies in the genome. Metals are of particular concern among pollutants, because of interference with vital biological pathways. We use the three‐spined stickleback as a model for adaptation to mercury pollution in natural populati...
Increasing pesticide application is a serious threat to human health and biodiversity. In nature, pesticides prevail in mixtures; therefore the joint effects of pesticides should be taken into consideration due to their priority in toxicity research when aiming at realistic evaluations. In this study, individual and mixture toxicity of the commonly...
Toxicity imposed by organophosphate pesticides to the freshwater cultivable fish species mrigal ( Cirrhinus mrigala ) was assessed under laboratory conditions. Healthy juveniles were exposed to chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos, and their equitoxic mixture in geometric series. Median lethal concentrations of chlorpyrifos were found to be 0.906 (0.689–1.179)...
Toxicity imposed by organophosphate pesticides to the freshwater cultivable fish species mrigal ( Cirrhinus mrigala ) was assessed under laboratory conditions. Healthy juveniles were exposed to chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos, and their equitoxic mixture in geometric series. Median lethal concentrations of chlorpyrifos were found to be 0.906 (0.689–1.179)...
Detrimental effects of chemical pollution—primarily caused by human activities—on aquatic ecosystems have increasingly gained attention. Because of its hydrophobic qualities, mercury is prone to easily bioaccumulate and biomagnify through the food chain, decreasing biodiversity and eventually also affecting humans. In the present study, accumulated...
This study investigates the trophic interactions and As and Cd transfer along seven marine ecosystems in Peru. Five of these ecosystems are driven by aquaculture of the Peruvian scallop Argopecten purpuratus. A southward increased gradient of δ15N was observed among the three examined regions along the Peruvian coast. The stable isotope analysis in...
Supporting information - Trophic interactions and metal transfer in marine ecosystems driven by the Peruvian scallop Argopecten purpuratus aquaculture
The aquatic environment receives a wide variety of contaminants that interact with each other, influencing their mutual toxicity. Therefore, studies of mixtures are needed to fully understand their deleterious effects on aquatic organisms. In the present experiment, we aimed to assess the effects of Cd and Zn mixtures in common carp during a one-we...
Climate warming and low pH environment are known to negatively impact all levels of aquatic organism from cellular to organism and population levels. For ammonotelic freshwater species, any abiotic factor fluctuation will cause disturbance to the fish, specifically at the gills which act as a multifunctional organ to support all biological processe...
Nitrate pollution is a pervasive threat to aquatic species worldwide. • We assessed interactions among nitrate, hypoxia, and elevated temperatures in fish. • Nitrate-exposed fish were more susceptible to both hypoxia and heat stress. • Nitrate pollution heightens fish susceptibility to a changing world. Species persistence in a changing world will...
In a natural ecosystem, fish are subjected to a multitude of variable environmental factors. It is important to analyze the impact of combined factors to obtain a realistic understanding of the mixed stress occurring in nature. In this study, the physiological performance of juvenile common carp (Cyprinus carpio) exposed for one week to an environm...
The aquatic environment is the final sink of various pollutants including metals, which can pose a threat for aquatic organisms. Waterborne metal mixture toxicity might be influenced by environmental parameters such as the temperature. In the present study, common carp were exposed for 27 days to a ternary metal mixture of Cu, Zn, and Cd at two dif...
Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is an important aquaculture species. However, their production and health is sometimes threatened by pesticides. In common carp, extensive studies have been done for exposures of single pesticides, but effects of mixtures such as those of the commonly used chlorpyrifos and dichlorvos, are still unknown for this species...
Golden mahseer (Tor putitora) is an economically important but endangered fish species in many countries. Increasing pesticide application can possess a threat to this species but their sensitivity to pesticides, typically chlorpyrifos and dichlorvos, is unknown. We determined 96 h-LC50 of chlorpyrifos and dichlorvos to be 0.753 mg/L and 12.964 mg/...
To improve our understanding of underlying toxic mechanisms, it is important to evaluate differences in effects that a variety of metals exert at concentrations representing the same toxic level to the organism. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to compare the effects of waterborne copper (Cu(II)), zinc (Zn(II)) and cadmium (Cd (II)...
It is expected that climate change will cause more frequent extreme events of heavy precipitation and drought, changing hydrological conditions in riverine ecosystems, such as flow velocity, evapotranspiration (drought) or runoff (heavy precipitation). This can lead to an increased input of terrestrial organic matter and elevated levels of dissolve...
Climate change can result in multiple indirect alterations of the environment in riverine ecosystems, due to changes in precipitation and runoff. Flow velocity, concentrations of CO2 and nutrients are thereby expected to change, and consequences of the combination of those effects for macrophytes, a key organism group, are still poorly understood....
Este Policy Brief (PB) se enfoca en el análisis de las concentraciones acumuladas de contaminantes (ej. metales) en diferentes especies marinas (o grupos taxonómicos) comestibles de diferentes regiones del Perú. Además, se determinó la cantidad (kg/semana) de consumo seguro (o máximo) de estas especies, y a la vez la cuantificación del aporte de el...
In the aquatic environment, metals are present as mixtures, therefore studies on mixture toxicity are crucial to thoroughly understand their toxic effects on aquatic organisms. Common carp were used to assess the effects of short-term Cu(II) and Cd(II) mixtures, using a fixed concentration of one of the metals, representing 25 % of its individual 9...
Climate warming and nitrate pollution are pervasive aquatic stressors that endanger the persistence of fishes prevailing in anthropogenically disturbed habitats. Individually, elevated nitrate and temperature can influence fish energy homeostasis by increasing maintenance costs and impairing oxygen transport capacity. However, it remains unknown ho...
We review knowledge on applications of sustained aerobic swimming as a tool to promote productivity and welfare of farmed fish species. There has been extensive interest in whether providing active species with a current to swim against can promote growth. The results are not conclusive but the studies have varied in species, life stage, swimming s...
Metal contamination of the aquatic environment is problematic due to the bioaccumulative, non-biodegradable and toxic proprieties of these elements. Several studies have demonstrated the impact of single metal exposures on the physiological performance of fish but their results are sometimes contradictory, with metals showing different effects acco...
The individual toxicity and bioaccumulation of cadmium, copper and zinc for common carp juveniles was evaluated in a direct comparison in two experimental setups. First, fish were exposed for 10 days to different metal concentrations in order to link metal bioaccumulation to LC50 values (concentration lethal to 50% of the animals) and incipient let...
Seafood could be a promising way to supplement healthy fatty acids and trace elements to the Peruvian diet. Seafood from northern Peru was characterized with the highest relative concentrations of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs), while in the center region marine species had the lowest As and Pb contents. Peruvian marine species a...
This study aims to examine ionoregulatory parameters during exercise and cortisol elevation in common carp fed different food rations. Fish subjected to two different feeding regimes (0.5 or 3.0% body mass (BM) daily) received no implant or an intraperitoneal cortisol implant (250 mg/kg BM) or sham, and were monitored over a 168-h post-implant (PI)...
Nitrite is a widespread form of pollution which directly lowers the blood oxygen carrying capacity of aquatically respiring species. It is unknown if this impairment of oxygen transport translates into an increased susceptibility to elevated temperatures. We hypothesised that nitrite exposure would lower blood oxygen carrying capacity and decrease...
The aquatic environment is continuously under threat because it is the final receptor and sink of waste streams. The development of industry, mining activities and agriculture gave rise to an increase in metal pollution in the aquatic system. Thus a wide occurrence of metal mixtures exists in the aquatic environment. The assessment of mixture stres...
Lake Magadi, Kenya, is one of the most extreme aquatic environments on Earth (pH~10, anoxic to hyperoxic, high temperatures). Recently, increased water demand and siltation have threatened the viable hot springs near the margins of the lake where Alcolapia grahami, the only fish surviving in the lake, live. These Lake Magadi tilapia largely depend...
The present study analyzed the Peruvian scallop Argopecten purpuratus and its food sources for metal and fatty acid concentrations in order to determine spatial and temporal differences. Metals such as copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) in gills and iron (Fe) and Zn in sediments were the most significant explaining factors for spatial diffe...
The individual toxicity and bioaccumulation of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) towards common carp juveniles was evaluated in a direct comparison in two experimental setups. First, the fish were exposed for 10 days to different metal concentrations. Accumulated metals were quantified and showed a positive dose dependent uptake for cadmium a...
The metal contamination of the aquatic environment is problematic due to the bioaccumulative, non-biodegradable and toxic proprieties of these elements. Some metals are essential but ultimately they may become inhibitory or toxic at high concentrations, while other (non-essential) have deleterious effects even at low concentrations. Previous studie...
Aquatic environments are subjected to numerous anthropogenic stressors that are much more diverse and variable than those tested in laboratory conditions. So it is important to analyse the effects of metal mixtures to obtain a realistic understanding of the impact of pollution in such natural ecosystems. The impact of a one-week exposure to metal m...
In this era of global climate change, ocean acidification is becoming a serious threat to the marine ecosystem. Despite this, it remains almost unknown how fish will respond to the co-occurrence of ocean acidification with other conventional environmental perturbations typically salinity fluctuation and high ammonia threat. Therefore, the present w...
Although aquatic organisms are increasingly exposed to pollutants and abnormally high temperatures as a consequence of climate change, interactive effects between those stressors remain poorly assessed. Especially in ectotherms, such as fish, increases in ambient temperature are expected to affect fitness-related traits and physiology. We used the...
Analyzing effects of metal mixtures is important to obtain a realistic understanding of the impact of mixed stress in natural ecosystems. The impact of a one-week exposure to a sublethal metal mixture containing copper (4.8 μg/L), cadmium (2.9 μg/L) and zinc (206.8 μg/L) was evaluated in the common carp (Cyprinus carpio). To explore whether this ex...
Environmental monitoring and risk assessment approaches which include a more holistic view on the effects of pollutants on biota are increasingly sought by regulators and policy makers. Therefore, caged carp juveniles (Cyprinus carpio) were transplanted for 7 weeks along a known Cd and Zn pollution gradient. Metal (Cu, Cd and Zn) accumulation in gi...
Ureotelic elasmobranchs require nitrogen for both protein growth and urea-based osmoregulation, and therefore are probably nitrogen-limited in nature. Mechanisms exist for retaining and/or scavenging nitrogen in the gills, kidney, rectal gland and gut, but as yet, the latter are not well characterized. Intestinal sac preparations of the Pacific spi...
Scallops and their potential predators were collected in Sechura Bay and in front of the Illescas Reserved Zone (north Peru), during El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) 2016, and analyzed for the metals chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). This study showed that ~20...
It has been suggested that induced swimming has the potential to improve the growth performance of fish. We tested this hypothesis by measuring growth, metabolic efficiency and physiological capacity of common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Fish were swum at different exercise regimes: 0.0 (control), 1.5 and 2.5 body lengths per second (BL/s) in 1600 L re...
Aquatic environments are subjected to numerous anthropogenic stressors that are much more diverse and variable than those usually tested in laboratory conditions. Even if previous research indicated that strong interactive effects are observed in metal mixture scenarios that are not expected based on single metal exposures, the assessment of mixtur...
Freshwater organisms are increasingly exposed to combinations of stressors. However, since it is time‐consuming and costly, research on the interaction of stressors, such as compound toxicity and global warming on vertebrates, is scarce. Studies on multigenerational effects of these combined stressors are almost non‐existent. Here, we tested the co...
The killifish Nothobranchius furzeri is an emerging model organism in the field of ecotoxicology and its applicability in acute and chronic ecotoxicity testing has been demonstrated. Overall, the sensitivity of the species to toxic compounds is in the range with, or higher than, that of other model species.
This work describes protocols for acute,...
Aquatic organisms of inland waters are often subjected to a combination of stressors. Yet, few experiments assess mixed stress effects beyond a select group of standard model organisms. We studied the joint toxicity of reference toxicants and increased temperature on the turquoise killifish, Nothobranchius furzeri, a promising model for ecotoxicolo...