Toxicity of Nanoscale CuO and ZnO to Daphnia magna

The potential effects of nanoscale CuO(nCuO),nanoscale ZnO(nZnO) and their mixtures on Daphnia magna were investigated,including 48-h acute toxicity and 21-d chronic toxicity tests as well as a feeding experiment.The results of acute toxicity show that nCuO/nZnO mixture was the most toxic followed by nCuO and nZnO.The nanoparticles(NPs) inhibited both the growth and reproduction of Daphnia magna during the testing period.Concentration dependence was apparent in all the cases and the intrinsic rate of natural increase was confirmed to be a very sensitive parameter to NPs exposure.Binary mixture appeared to be more toxic than the corresponding individual exposures at most cases except for the feeding behavior.