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Is the toxicity of pesticide mixtures on river biofilm accounted for solely by the major compounds identified?

  • Potential toxicity of pesticides in freshwater environments: passive sampling, exposure and impacts on biofilms
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Abstract

Comparative effects of long-term exposure to Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler (POCIS) extracts (PE) and to a reconstituted mixture based on the major compounds quantified in the PE were evaluated on river biofilm communities. The study aimed to characterize the effects of long-term and low-dose exposure to pesticides on natural biofilm communities and to evaluate if the effects due to PE exposure could be explained solely by the major compounds identified in the extracts. Biofilms from an uncontaminated site were exposed in artificial channels to realistic environmental concentrations using diluted PE, with the 12 major compounds quantified in the extracts (Mix) or with water not containing pesticides (Ctr). Significant differences between biofilms exposed to pesticides or not were observed with regard to diatom density, biomass (dry weight and ash-free dry mass), photosynthetic efficiency (ΦpsII) and antioxidant enzyme activities. After 14 days of exposure to the different treatments, the observed trend towards a decrease of mean diatom cell biovolumes in samples exposed to pesticides was related to the control biofilms’ higher relative abundance of large species like Cocconeis placentula or Amphora copulata and lower relative abundance of small species like Eolimna minima compared to the contaminated ones. Principal component analyses clearly separated contaminated (PE and Mix) from non-contaminated (Ctr) biofilms; on the contrary, the analyses did not reveal separation between biofilms exposed to PE or to the 12 major compounds identified in the extract.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the PoToMAC (Potential Toxicity of pesticides in Continental Aquatic Environments: passive sampling and exposure/impact on biofilms) programme under the reference ANR-11-CESA-022 and the French National Agency for Water and Aquatic Environments (ONEMA). The authors would like to thank S. Moreira, G. Jan, B. Delest, K. Madarassou and A. Moreira from Irstea Bordeaux for their skilful technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Irstea, UR REBX, 50 avenue de Verdun, 33612, Cestas cedex, France

    Sandra Kim Tiam, Soizic Morin, Mélissa Eon & Nicolas Mazzella

  2. EPOC, UMR 5805, University of Bordeaux, 33120, Arcachon, France

    Sandra Kim Tiam, Agnès Feurtet-Mazel & Patrice Gonzalez

  3. Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17071, Girona, Spain

    Berta Bonet & Helena Guasch

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  1. Sandra Kim Tiam
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  2. Soizic Morin
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  4. Helena Guasch
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Correspondence to Sandra Kim Tiam or Nicolas Mazzella.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Kim Tiam, S., Morin, S., Bonet, B. et al. Is the toxicity of pesticide mixtures on river biofilm accounted for solely by the major compounds identified?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 4009–4024 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3373-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3373-y

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