Predicting the aquatic risk of realistic pesticide mixtures to species assemblages in Portuguese river basins

Although pesticide regulatory tools are mainly based on individual substances, aquatic ecosystems are usually exposed to multiple pesticides from their use on the variety of crops within the catchment of a river. This study estimated the impact of measured pesticide mixtures in surface waters from 2002 and 2008 within three important Portuguese river basins（＇Mondego＇, ＇Sado＇ and ＇Tejo＇） on primary producers, arthropods and fish by toxic pressure calculation. Species sensitivity distributions（SSDs）, in combination with mixture toxicity models, were applied. Considering the differences in the responses of the taxonomic groups as well as in the pesticide exposures that these organisms experience, variable acute multi-substance potentially affected fractions（ms PAFs） were obtained. The median msP AF for primary producers and arthropods in surface waters of all river basins exceeded 5%, the cut-off value used in the prospective SSD approach for deriving individual environmental quality standards. A ranking procedure identified various photosystem II inhibiting herbicides, with oxadiazon having the relatively largest toxic effects on primary producers, while the organophosphorus insecticides, chlorfenvinphos and chlorpyrifos, and the organochloride endosulfan had the largest effects on arthropods and fish, respectively. These results ensure compliance with European legislation with regard to ecological risk assessment and management of pesticides in surface waters.

Study on the toxic effect of the mixture of organophosphorus pesticide on perinatal rats

Objective To observe the toxic effect of the mixture of organophosphorus pesticide (MOP) on maternal rats and on the growth and development of their offspring. Methods Totally 40 Sprague-Dawley pregnant rats were randomly divided into three MOP dose groups and one control to which their offspring would be assigned. The experimental dosage of MOP and distilled water were administered orally starting on gestation day 15 and continued for 35 days. The physical development indices and the learning ability of F1 rats were measured during lactation. The pathological changes of uterus and liver of F0 rats were observed after weaning, while the weight ratio of uterus and some viscera to body of the F1 were examined. Results There were obvious changes of uterus and liver in the high-dose group of F0. The body-weight accretion of the F1 in high-dose group was obviously lower than that in control group (P<0.05). Some of the MOP F1 rats development indices delayed significantly (P<0.05), the learning ability decreased obviously, and the time of setting up memory prolonged (P<0.05). The ratio of the uterus weight to body-weight in the F1 MOP groups was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05). Conclusion The experiment doses of MOP are proved to have significant reproductive toxicity on perinatal rats.

Effects of multiple but low pesticide loads on aquatic fungal communities colonizing leaf litter

In the first tier risk assessment（RA） of pesticides, risk for aquatic communities is estimated by using results from standard laboratory tests with algae, daphnids and fish for single pesticides such as herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. However, fungi as key organisms for nutrient cycling in ecosystems as well as multiple pesticide applications are not considered in the RA. In this study, the effects of multiple low pesticide pulses using regulatory acceptable concentrations（RACs） on the dynamics of non-target aquatic fungi were investigated in a study using pond mesocosm. For that, fungi colonizing black alder（Alnus glutinosa） leaves were exposed to multiple, low pulses of 11 different pesticides over a period of 60 days using a real farmer＇s pesticide application protocol for apple cropping.Four pond mesocosms served as treatments and 4 as controls. The composition of fungal communities colonizing the litter material was analyzed using a molecular fingerprinting approach based on the terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism（t-RFLP） of the fungal Internal Transcribed Spacer（ITS） region of the ribonucleic acid（RNA） gene（s）. Our data indicated a clear fluctuation of fungal communities based on the degree of leaf litter degradation. However significant effects of the applied spraying sequence were not observed. Consequently also degradation rates of the litter material were not affected by the treatments. Our results indicate that the nutrient rich environment of the leaf litter material gave fungal communities the possibility to express genes that induce tolerance against the applied pesticides. Thus our data may not be transferred to other fresh water habitats with lower nutrient availability.