ORIGINAL PAPER Environment health and intraspecific biodiversity in T. tubifex: a preliminary analysis of a population from Apennines springs V. Romano Spica • S. Giampaoli • L. Buggiotti • M. Vitali • G. Gianfranceschi • R. Soldati Received: 22 September 2011 / Revised: 29 December 2012 / Accepted: 2 March 2013 / Published online: 20 September 2013 Ó Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2013 Abstract The cosmopolitan freshwater oligochaete Tubifex tubifex is an important health indicator of the aquatic environment. Water pollutants can affect the intraspecific biodiversity grade of local Tubifex colonies. A genetic profile of specimens collected in an environment with reduced anthropic presence is particularly important to define genetic variability in unperturbed Tubifex popu- lations, and it is still missing in the international literature. Therefore, it has been performed the analysis of lineage composition in a T. tubifex colony from high mountain spring ponds in Central Italy, characterized by a very low concentration of heavy metals. The sampling was per- formed during spring 2010 and 2011, in the Sett’acque valley (1,900 m above mean sea level), within the town- ship of Lucoli. Data presented in this work depicted a peculiar composition of the population, characterized by a reduced complexity compared to other urban environ- ments, and with no specimens belonging to the lineage I, largely described in many European populations. Interest- ingly, lineage 2e, previously discovered only in a natural reserve, results to be the most common lineage in this population. Considerations on environmental health and genetic evolution are discussed. Keywords Genetic variability Á Heavy metals Á Genetic lineage Á Oligochaete Á Biological indicator Introduction The analysis of aquatic pollution is a major issue of modern society. The need to preserve water basin from dangerous chemical compounds or physical agents is strictly corre- lated with the improvement of ecological analysis tools. Biological indicators are largely used to assess health condition of aquatic environment and are based on the identification of several species of invertebrates present in the water site. Oligochaete are included in the list of spe- cies to be identified in many index, e.g., Extended Biotic Index (Woodiwiss 1978). A specific oligochaete, Tubifex tubifex, have been the focus of systematic (Beauchamp et al. 2001; Sjo¨lin et al. 2005; Crottini et al. 2008; Doumen 2010), ecological (Coto and Szostak 1995; Sturmbauer et al. 1999; Schaller et al. 2011), toxicological (Bouche´ et al. 2000; Rathore and Khangarot 2002; Maestre et al. 2009; O’Connor et al. 2012) and parasitological (Baxa et al. 2008) studies. This worm is one of the most abundant oligochaete present in the European springs, where it plays a pivotal role in the detritus food chain. However, due to its elevated tolerance to pollutants and hypoxia, it can be found also in sloughs of region with intense anthropic activity. The taxonomical identification of T. tubifex is mainly based on the morphology of the setae and of the repro- ductive organs. These structure show an important intra- specific variation, been probably a key feature for the adaptation to similar but distinct microhabitats. According to Paoletti et al. (1999), this oligochaete live in complex communities made of sympatric cryptic species, V. Romano Spica (&) Á S. Giampaoli Á L. Buggiotti Á G. Gianfranceschi Division of Health Sciences, Unit of Public Health, University of Rome ‘‘Foro Italico’’, Rome, Italy e-mail: vincenzo.romanospica@uniroma4.it M. Vitali Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, University of Rome ‘‘Sapienza’’, Rome, Italy R. Soldati Botanic Garden of Lucoli, L’Aquila, Italy 123 Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. (2014) 11:461–468 DOI 10.1007/s13762-013-0372-3