Effects of Hexazinone Herbicide on Cassiopea Jellyfish Growth and Photosynthesis, 2017

A 2017 laboratory experiment measured the effects of the herbicide hexazinone on the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea maremetens over a 14-day exposure period. The dataset includes measurements of bell surface area, photosynthetic efficiency, zooxanthellae density, and statolith number. The bioassay was conducted by researchers from AIMS and James Cook University to assess environmental risks to the Great Barrier Reef.

Use Cases

• Modeling dose-response relationships for hexazinone toxicity based on bell surface area growth metrics.
• Analyzing the correlation between herbicide concentration and photosynthetic efficiency (effective quantum yield).
• Studying the impact of PSII inhibitors on cnidarian-algal symbiosis using zooxanthellae density data.
• Comparing the sensitivity of Cassiopea maremetens to other taxa using standardized ecotoxicology protocols.

Strengths

• Experimental design includes control and solvent control treatments to validate test protocols.
• Herbicide concentrations were analytically verified by a specialized environmental health sciences laboratory.
• Measurements were taken at multiple time points over the 14-day exposure, likely providing time-series data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for statistical modeling.
• Data is from a single laboratory experiment in 2017; geographic and temporal generalizability may be limited.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, aggregating data from AIMS (Australian Institute of Marine Science) and JCU (James Cook University).

Collection Method

Controlled laboratory bioassay with individuals exposed to designated herbicide treatments for 14 days.

Time Range

2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 22:49:20.788246; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Jellyfish sourced from Lake Magellan, Sunshine Coast, Queensland; experiment conducted in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, relevant to the Great Barrier Reef catchment.