Date of Award
6-19-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Environmental Sciences, Ph.D.
First Advisor
Lorin Neuman-Lee
Committee Members
Averi Fegadel; Brook Fluker; Ferebee Tunno; Jennifer Bouldin
Abstract
In the global transition toward light emitting diode (LED) lighting, an understudied area is the impact on the culturing and testing of Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) testing organisms, more specifically, the zooplankton species. Without comparison to the current lighting used for culturing and testing, it is unknown if there will be an impact on performance, which could affect effluent, regulatory, and product safety decisions. This dissertation investigated if culturing and reference toxicity testing using sodium chloride for Ceriodaphnia dubia, Daphnia magna, and D. pulex under LED lighting was comparable to fluorescent. Comparisons were made between two laboratories and by season, with no difference found for C. dubia and D. pulex; possible effects for D. magna were detected, though small sample sizes likely affected the results. To support this work, brood number and reproductive sequentiality were evaluated for acute C. dubia and D. magna, again using the reference toxicant sodium chloride, with no differences found. Additionally, the potential application of ultraviolet light to WET testing was investigated with photocatalytic titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Although UV light did activate the titanium dioxide nanoparticles, there was no effect of light type, although high between-test variation might have impacted these results. Finally, the impact of gender, major category, and education level on general sustainability and light bulb choice knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of 327 survey participants was determined. Education level affected primarily general sustainability knowledge and light bulb attitudes and behavior, there was no effect of major category on any metric evaluated, and that education status affected general sustainability knowledge and behavior, and light bulb knowledge and behavior. More education was also found to be needed for all groups in relation to proper compact fluorescent light disposal. Overall, LED lights are acceptable replacements for fluorescent lights for culturing and WET testing of most model zooplankton species, although caution is advised for D. magna and more work is needed to evaluate UV lighting applications to WET testing.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Regn, Orithea Z., "The Ecotoxicological Implications of Switching from Fluorescent to Light Emitting Diode Lighting for Zooplankton Culturing and Whole Effluent Toxicity Testing" (2026). Student Theses and Dissertations. 1197.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/1197
