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Assessing the Chronic Toxicity of Atrazine, Permethrin, and Chlorothalonil to the Cladoceran Ceriodaphnia cf. dubia in Laboratory and Natural River Water

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Abstract

The majority of ecotoxicological data are generated from standard laboratory-based experiments with organisms exposed in nonflowing systems using highly purified water, which contains very low amounts of dissolved organic matter and suspended particulates. However, such experimental conditions are not ecologically relevant. Thus, there is a need to develop more realistic approaches to determining toxicity, including both lethal and sublethal effects. This research provides information on the effect of natural water constituents, such as suspended particulates and dissolved organic matter, in river water (RW) on the chronic toxicity (7-day reproductive impairment) of the pesticides atrazine, chlorothalonil, and permethrin to the freshwater cladoceran Ceriodaphnia cf. dubia. Standard bioassays were conducted under standard laboratory and more environmentally realistic conditions (using RW). The 7-day IC25 (reproduction impairment) values of atrazine, chlorothalonil, and permethrin to C. cf. dubia ranged from 862.4 to >1000, 51.3 to 66.4, and 0.19 to 0.23 μg/L, respectively. Using the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, atrazine is classified as moderately to highly toxic, whereas permethrin and chlorothalonil were both highly toxic. The presence of dissolved organic matter and suspended particles in natural RW did not significantly (p > 0.05) change the toxicity of any of the pesticides to C. cf. dubia compared with that tested in laboratory water (LW). For the tested pesticides, toxicity testing in LW provided an adequate estimate of the hazard posed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Australian Research Council for research funding; the Institute for Water and Environmental and Resource Management for research support and laboratory facilities; and the Centre of Ecotoxicology, Ecotoxicology & Environmental Contaminants Section, Office of Environment & Heritage, for use of its laboratory facilities at Lidcombe.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Environmental Sustainability (CEnS), School of the Environment, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Yin Latt Phyu, R. Dowse, S. Mueller & R. P. Lim

  2. Institute for Water Research, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Grahamstown, 6139, South Africa

    C. G. Palmer

  3. Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (DSITIA), Water Quality and Investigations, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia

    M. St. J. Warne

  4. Ecotoxicology & Environmental Contaminants Section, Office of Environment & Heritage, NSW, Lidcombe, NSW, 1825, Australia

    J. Chapman

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, 2109, Australia

    G. C. Hose

  6. Institute for Water and Environmental Resource Management (IWERM), University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Yin Latt Phyu, C. G. Palmer, M. St. J. Warne, R. Dowse, S. Mueller & R. P. Lim

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  1. Yin Latt Phyu
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Correspondence to Yin Latt Phyu.

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Phyu, Y.L., Palmer, C.G., Warne, M.S.J. et al. Assessing the Chronic Toxicity of Atrazine, Permethrin, and Chlorothalonil to the Cladoceran Ceriodaphnia cf. dubia in Laboratory and Natural River Water. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 64, 419–426 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-012-9837-5

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