The native freshwater gastropod Isidorella newcombi attacks the roots of developing rice plants in southern Australia and is controlled using copper sulphate. The apparent tolerance of this species to moderate levels of copper (Cu) exposure led us to investigate its potential usefulness as a biomonitor species. To assess its response to chronic Cu exposure, adult I. newcombi were exposed to 0–120 µg L⁻¹ of Cu for 28 days. Lethal and sublethal responses were investigated. The relationships between subcellular biomarkers and life history traits also were explored. At exposure concentrations of 60 µg L⁻¹ Cu and above, 100% mortality was observed during the 28-day exposure period. In these treatments, there was an exposure concentration dependent decrease in the time that the snails survived. In the surviving snails, there was an exposure concentration-dependent increase in tissue Cu concentration. In the snails exposed to Cu concentrations above 15 µg L⁻¹, no eggs were produced during the final week of copper exposure, indicating that populations would not persist at Cu concentrations above 15 µg L⁻¹. The general stress biomarker lysosomal membrane destabilisation (LD) indicated organisms exposed to 10 µg L⁻¹ Cu and above were experiencing Cu induced stress. This suggests that LD could act as an early warning system for responses at higher levels of biological organisation in I. newcombi exposed to copper.

原生的淡水腹足纲新腹线虫（Isidorella newcombi）袭击了澳大利亚南部正在发展的水稻植株的根部，并使用硫酸铜进行了控制。该物种对中等水平的铜（Cu）暴露的明显耐受性使我们研究了其作为生物监测物种的潜在用途。为了评估其对慢性Cu暴露的反应，将成年的I. newcombi暴露于0–120 µg L ^-1的Cu中28天。研究了致死和亚致死反应。还探讨了亚细胞生物标志物与生活史特征之间的关系。在60 µg L ^-1的暴露浓度下铜及以上，在28天的暴露期内观察到100％的死亡率。在这些处理中，蜗牛存活时间的减少取决于暴露浓度。在幸存的蜗牛中，组织中铜的浓度随暴露浓度的增加而增加。在暴露于Cu浓度高于15 µg L ^-1的蜗牛中，在暴露于铜的最后一周没有产卵，这表明在Cu浓度高于15 µg L ^-1时种群不会持久。一般应激生物标志物溶酶体膜失稳（LD）指示生物体暴露于10 µg L ^-1铜及以上均受到铜诱导的应力。这表明LD可以作为对暴露于铜的新com.I.的较高生物组织水平反应的预警系统。