Warming and artificial light amplify antibiotic toxicity during early life stages of Artemia franciscana

Zoology Conference 2025:

ZOOming Into the World of Animals

Amsterdam: 7-9 December 2025

https://www.kndv.nl/zoology-2025-congress/ 

Abstract: Pharmaceuticals and artificial light have become fundamental for sustaining public health and supporting today’s modern lifestyle. However, their use pollutes the environment and has effects on wildlife that are still far from understood. In addition, as the world warms, wildlife is experiencing changing temperatures that may influence how they respond to pollution. While the effects of exposure to pharmaceuticals, light pollution, and rising temperatures are increasingly documented individually, little is still known about their combined impacts, especially in aquatic animals. As a step towards addressing this knowledge gap, we examined whether and how the acute toxicity of the pharmaceutical tetracycline varies across different temperature and light pollution conditions. Using Artemia franciscana as a model organism, we assessed hatching success from dormant cysts and juvenile survival under both single– and multiple-stressor conditions. Increased temperature and continuous lighting reduced hatching success in A. franciscana. Tolerance of A. franciscana to tetracycline increased with reduced light exposure and lower temperature. The study thus highlights the varying sensitivity of A. franciscana to chemical pollution in the face of a changing climate and urbanisation, and contributes to the development of a tailored ecological risk assessment paradigm that considers emerging stressors.