Basis for ecotoxicological studies is the existence of a culture of the test organisms. For groundwater animals, there are no standardized breedings so far, because the animals are difficult to keep and reproduce only very slowly (Rütz 2022, oral comm., Maier, 1990; Nowlin et al., 2016). To date, experimental animals can only be obtained from wild catches.

As an alternative for stygobiont organisms, cold-stenothermic stygophilic species are suitable. These are similar in many respects to groundwater species, but are characterized by a higher reproduction rate. A common species of near-surface groundwater, springs, and hyporheic interstitial is the cyclopod Eucyclops serrulatus. It is relatively easy to culture (di Lorenzo et al., 2015; Park et al., 2005), assuming suitable field populations are available for this purpose.

Therefore, the aim of WP5 is to provide suitable wild animals, to build up and establish the breeding. Subsequently, ecotoxicological investigations with regard to acute and chronic toxicity will be established and applied with these groundwater organisms (with WP6).