The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential impact of the pesticides detected in the Alqueva reservoir (Guadiana Basin, South Iberian Peninsula) on the aquatic organisms belonging to this ...ecosystem. For this purpose, the occurrence and risk assessment of 25 pesticides and of a number of their degradation products were determined in the Alqueva surface waters. The areas (sampling stations) most polluted by pesticides were Sra. Ajuda, Lucefecit and Álamos in the northern and in the middle portions of the reservoir, respectively. The aquatic risk assessment revealed that from the various compounds analysed terbuthylazine, chlorfenvinphos and diazinon presented non-acceptable risk when maximum concentrations were used as the measured environmental concentrations (MEC). The locations that had more samples with risk quotients higher than 1 (high risk) were Sra. Ajuda followed by Lucefécit. The use of risk assessment allowed us to conclude that, despite that the pesticides' concentrations in the water column fulfil the European environmental quality standards, a number of the compounds show a high ecotoxicological risk for the aquatic organisms in the Alqueva ecosystem. The results thereby demonstrate that to have an efficient risk management process, the regulatory authorities of each country must consider an integrative chemical and ecotoxicological approach.
•Increasing amounts of bentazone, terbuthylazine and metolachlor•The north part of the reservoir is the most contaminated•All pesticides concentrations complied with the EQS•Terbuthylazine, chlorfenvinphos and diazinon showed high risk for aquatic species•Water resource management must integrate chemical and ecotoxicological evaluation.
The purpose of this work was to evaluate the dynamic of the water quality from the Alqueva reservoir (Guadiana River Basin, Portugal) and identify the most important parameters that influence its ...ecological and chemical status. The results could indicate preventive and/or remediation actions that are necessary to improve its quality and status. Water and sediment samples were collected between 2011 and 2012, at five sampling stations, and analyzed for: (i) water — pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, chloride, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, ammonium, nitrate, nitrite, biochemical and chemical oxygen demand, total Fe, Mn, and As; and (ii) sediments — pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, major and trace elements. The results from the water column showed that the organic descriptors exceeded the Portuguese guideline values for water quality for multiple uses at most of the sampling stations. As for nutrients, Ajuda is the station where the concentrations of the total nitrogen and total phosphorus exceeded the guideline values in most months. Ammonium achieved concentrations above the allowed, during the study, in all locations. Trace elements were more abundant in the sediments, surpassing the maximum levels for the protection of aquatic life for As, Cd and Pb, at Alcarrache, Lucefécit and Álamos, respectively. The use of multivariate analysis showed that the major parameters that explained the water quality variability were the nutrients in the water column, and trace elements in the sediments. Comparing the results from this study with results obtained since 2006, we can observe an obvious increment of the organic descriptors and nutrients in the water body. Further, several parameters and observations indicate an increase of the eutrophication process. So, it is urgent to develop preventive actions and remediation processes to stop the degradation so as to improve the quality of the water in this reservoir.
•Evidence of a speeding up of the eutrophication process in the Alqueva reservoir.•Major impacts were from agriculture activities and untreated wastewater discharges.•Sediments at the Alqueva reservoir were characterized for the first time.•Sediments were contaminated with As, with toxic concentrations for As, Cd and Pb.•Multivariate statistics helped in the identification of the most polluted locations.
Plastic pellets represent a significant component of microplastic (< 5 mm) pollution. Impacts caused by plastic pellets involve physical harm and toxicity related to ingestion and non-ingestion (such ...as the release of chemicals in leachates). The latter is the main route of exposure for invertebrate macrobenthic populations. This study aimed to compare the toxicity of plastic pellets in distinct marine macrobenthic populations, considering the influence of sediment characteristics (organic matter and grain size) and quality (contamination by hydrophobic chemicals) on ecotoxicological effects, as well as the influence of color on the toxicity of beach-stranded plastic pellets. We performed three experiments on plastic pellet exposure using Excirolana armata from beaches with high and low pellet density. When exposed to pellets, populations that inhabit beaches without pellets demonstrate higher mortality than those inhabiting beaches with high pellet densities. The mortality of E. armata to pellets was higher when the exposure occurred in sediment with high organic matter (OM), suggesting that chemicals were transferred from pellets to OM. Yellowish beach-stranded pellets induced higher mortality of E. armata than the white tones did. We also observed lethargic (near-dead) and dead individuals being preyed upon by healthy individuals, a cannibalistic behavior that raises an ecological concern regarding the negative effects of this exposure on intraspecific interactions in marine macrobenthic populations.
The ecdysteroid system is used by crustaceans and other arthropods as the major endocrine signalling molecules, regulating processes such as molting and embryonic development. The aim of this study ...was to evaluate the ecdysteroid activity of two pesticides (atrazine and endosulfan sulphate), with distinct modes of action and which act in the juvenoid system of the crustacean
Daphnia magna as weak juvenoid compounds
. To assess the ecdysteroid activity, we first exposed maternal daphnids and embryos to nominal concentrations of the pesticides and determined the effect promoted by these pesticides on the molting frequency and on abnormalities in the embryos development. Furthermore, we evaluated if the toxic effects observed with the isolated pesticides were promoted or not by the disruption of the ecdysteroids system of the crustacean, by co-administrating of them with 20-hydroxyecdysone hormone. This hormone is the prime form of the invertebrate’s ecdysteroids system and it is responsible for the crustacean molting process. Both pesticides induced an increase of embryo abnormalities development. Endosulfan sulphate promoted a delay in the molting process. The effects induced by atrazine were not altered by co-exposure to 20-hydroxyecdysone. In contrast, the co-administration of 20-hydroxyecdysone allowed the reversion of the effects on both the molting process and embryonic development elicited by endosulfan sulphate. These results suggest that atrazine promotes its toxicity without interfering with the ecdysteroid activity of the crustacean. On the contrary, endosulfan sulphate is an anti-ecdysteroidal compound for
D. magna.
Surface waters located in intensive agricultural areas are more vulnerable to the pesticides contamination, which is a major concern if the water is intended to be used for human consumption. The aim ...of this study was to evaluate the presence and the distribution of pesticides in the Alqueva reservoir, an important source of water supply (South of Portugal), considering their representativeness in the agricultural practice of the area. For the analysis of pesticides risk impact we used the environmental quality standards in the field of water policy proposed recently by the European Commission. The pesticides belonging to the classes of phenylureas, triazines, chloroacetanilides, organophosphorous and thiocarbamates were analysed by on-line solid phase extraction-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The pesticides more frequently detected were atrazine, simazine, diuron and terbuthylazine. The highest levels of these pesticides were registered in spring, after pesticides treatment, namely in olive-tree and vine crops. The priority pesticides atrazine and diuron reached values above the annual average proposed in the European Union Legislation. The herbicide atrazine reached values that surpassed the proposed maximum allowable concentration (2 000 ng L
−
1
). The sampling stations most affected by these pesticides were Sra. Ajuda, Lucefecit and Alcarrache, located in the northern part of the reservoir, closer to Spain where the agricultural activity is more intensive.
The water flea
Daphnia magna belongs to the cyclical parthenogenic species, which can reproduce by either parthenogenesis or sexual reproduction. Recent studies have reported the involvement of the ...methylfarnesoate hormone, in male sex determination of
D. magna. The aim of this study was to evaluate the juvenoid and anti-juvenoid activity of atrazine, endosulfan sulphate, and chlorpyrifos. To assess the juvenoid activity we exposed maternal daphnids to several concentrations of the respective pesticides, using the percentage of male production as endpoint. Fenoxycarb (1
μg
L
−1) was used as a positive control. The anti-juvenoid activity was assessed using a similar bioassay after the addition of fenoxycarb (1
μg
L
−1) to all test solutions. Fenoxycarb is an insect growth regulator that mimics the action of methylfarnesoate, and promoted the production of 95% of male offspring at the given concentration. Weak juvenoid-agonist activity was detected for endosulfan sulphate, with a significant increase of the percentage of male daphnids detected through logistic regression. In addition, atrazine and endosulfan sulphate antagonized the juvenoid activity of fenoxycarb. These results also corroborate the hypothesis that weak juvenoid agonists can simultaneously act as juvenoid antagonists as it has been observed in other hormonal systems.
Insect outbreaks are expected to increase in frequency and intensity with projected changes in global climate through direct effects of climate change on insect populations and through disruption of ...community interactions. Although there is much concern about mean changes in global climate, the impact of climatic variability itself on species interactions has been little explored. Here, we compare caterpillar-parasitoid interactions across a broad gradient of climatic variability and find that the combined data in 15 geographically dispersed databases show a decrease in levels of parasitism as climatic variability increases. The dominant contribution to this pattern by relatively specialized parasitoid wasps suggests that climatic variability impairs the ability of parasitoids to track host populations. Given the important role of parasitoids in regulating insect herbivore populations in natural and managed systems, we predict an increase in the frequency and intensity of herbivore outbreaks through a disruption of enemy-herbivore dynamics as climates become more variable.
Flower and leaf herbivory might cause relevant and negative impacts on plant fitness. While flower removal or damage by florivores produces direct negative effects on plant fitness, folivores affect ...plant fitness by reducing resource allocation to reproduction. In this study, we examine the effects of both flower and leaf herbivory by leaf-cutting ants on the reproductive success of the shrub species Miconia nervosa (Smith) Triana (Family Melastomataceae) in a fragment of Atlantic Forest in Northeast Brazil. We conducted a randomized block-designed field experiment with nine replicates (blocks), in which three plants per block were assigned to one of the three following treatments: undamaged plants (ant exclusion), leaf-damaged plants (ant exclusion from reproductive organs, but not from leaves), and flower + leaf-damaged plants (no exclusion of ants). We then measured flower production, fruit set, and fruit production. Our results showed that flower + leaf-damaged plants reduced flower production nearly twofold in relation to undamaged plants, while flower set in leaf-damaged plants remained constant. The number of flowers that turned into fruits (i.e., fruit set), however, increased by 15% in flower + leaf-damaged plants, while it slightly decreased in leaf-damaged compared to undamaged plants. Contrastingly, fruit production was similar between all treatments. Taken together, our results suggest a prominent role of ant floral herbivory across different stages of the reproductive cycle in M. nervosa, with no consequences on final fruit production. The tolerance of M. nervosa to leaf-cutting ant herbivory might explain its high abundance in human-modified landscapes where leaf-cutting ants are hyper-abundant.
Chlorpyrifos is a non-systemic organophosphorus insecticide leading to the inhibition of the enzyme cholinesterase. Nowadays, this insecticide is widely used on a variety of crops and is frequently ...detected in surface waters around the world. The main aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of this insecticide on the embryonic development of
Daphnia magna, and to assess the sensitivity of this endpoint in comparison with the endpoint of the chronic 21-day test. The featured endpoints were the number of offspring per female and abnormalities of both offspring and embryos. Chlorpyrifos exhibited significant toxic effects on the embryonic development manifested in the appearance of abnormalities, including arrested eggs, in 20% of the embryos exposed to a concentration of 0.01
μg
L
−1. Furthermore, chronic exposition to the insecticide yielded a proportion of offspring abnormalities in later stages of development of about 43% at 0.01
μg
L
−1. In contrast, a significant reduction in the number of offspring produced per female was only observed above a concentration of 0.03
μg
L
−1. Hence, these results suggest that developmental abnormality was a more sensitive endpoint than the number of offspring production per female.
Through a series of simple processes, cassava root husks were turned into a fine powder of controlled particle size (63-75 mu m). FTIR spectrum demonstrated the existence of alcohol, amine and ...carboxylic groups; and elemental analysis confirmed the presence of elements of interest such as sulphur, nitrogen and oxygen. Cross-polarized {1H}-- 13C NMR technique indicated the existence of methionine and thiamine through the signals observed at 55ppm and 54ppm, respectively, and the point of zero charge (pHpzc) was achieved at pH 5.2. The material was applied in solid-phase extraction of Cu(II) via batch experiments. Optimum adsorption pH was found to be in range of 3-6 and in the kinetic experiment the equilibrium was attained in 1min. The highest adsorption capacity was 0.14mmolg-1. The adsorption data were fit to the modified Langmuir equation, and the maximum amount of metal species extracted from the solution, N s , was determined to be 0.14mmolg-1, which is an indicative that the main adsorption mechanism is through chemisorption. Under optimized conditions, the material was utilized in preconcentration experiments, which culminated in an enrichment factor of 41.3-fold. With the aid of the enrichment factor, experiments were carried out to determine the Cu(II) content in tap water and natural water. Preconcentration method was also applied to a certified reference material (1643e) and the concentration found was 23.03 plus or minus 0.79 mu gL-1, whereas the specified Cu(II) concentration was 22.7 plus or minus 0.31 mu gL-1.
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