Danielle L. Cucchiara

The goal of this ongoing study is to identify a suite of genes in Daphnia magna that can be used as novel bio-monitoring tools in metal-contaminated sites. We are performing metal mixture toxicity assays similar to conditions found in NFCC using the common bio-indicator species, D. magna. We showed that D. magna exposed to Cd and Zn metal mixtures exhibited distinctive effects in comparison to D. magna exposed to only Cd or Zn. Specifically, daphnia exhibited additive toxicity at low doses and protective (less than additive) toxicity at median doses of Cd mixed with Zn. We used the predicted effects of Cd and Zn mixtures to identify genes via RNAseq for use in bio-monitoring of metal contaminated sites.

Email: dlivey@ufl.edu

Phone: (352) 256-0030