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Ecotoxicological assessment of Uruguay River and affluents pre- and post-pesticides’ application using Caenorhabditis elegans for biomonitoring

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Abstract

Uruguay River is the most important river in western Rio Grande do Sul, separating Brazil from Argentina and Uruguay. However, its pollution is of great concern due to agricultural activities in the region and the extensive use of pesticides. In a long term, this practice leads to environmental pollution, especially to the aquatic system. The objective of this study was to analyze the physicochemical characteristics, metals and pesticides levels in water samples obtained before and after the planting and pesticides’ application season from three sites: Uruguay River and two minor affluents, Mezomo Dam and Salso Stream. For biomonitoring, the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was used, which were exposed for 24 h. We did not find any significant alteration in physicochemical parameters. In the pre- and post-pesticides’ samples we observed a residual presence of three pesticides (tebuconazole, imazethapyr, and clomazone) and metals which levels were above the recommended (As, Hg, Fe, and Mn). Exposure to both pre- and post-pesticides’ samples impaired C. elegans reproduction and post-pesticides samples reduced worms’ survival rate and lifespan. PCA analysis indicated that the presence of metals and pesticides are important variables that impacted C. elegans biological endpoints. Our data demonstrates that Uruguay River and two affluents are contaminated independent whether before or after pesticides’ application season. In addition, it reinforces the usefulness of biological indicators, since simple physicochemical analyses are not sufficient to attest water quality and ecological safety.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was funded in part by CNPq (Universal Grants- 453963/2014-5), FAPERGS/PqG # 18/2551-0000434-0, CNPq/FAPERGS/DECIT/SCTIE-MS/PRONEM #16/2551-0000248-7, PROPPI/ UNIPAMPA, and the German Research Foundation Research Unit TraceAge (FOR 2558). Authors thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. D.S.A is recipient of researcher fellowship (PQ2/CNPq).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Bioquímica e Toxicologia em Caenorhabditis elegans, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioquímica, Universidade Federal do Pampa- UNIPAMPA, Campus Uruguaiana, BR 472 – Km 592 – Caixa Postal 118, Uruguaiana, RS, CEP 97500-970, Brazil

    Eugênia Carla Kuhn, Maurício Tavares Jacques & Daiana Silva Ávila

  2. Laboratório de Estudos Físico-químicos e Produtos Naturais, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Campus Uruguaiana, Uruguaiana, Brazil

    Daniela Teixeira & Rafael Roehrs

  3. Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Potsdam, Nuthetal, Germany

    Sören Meyer & Tanja Schwerdtle

  4. Núcleo de Pesquisa em Ictiologia, Limnologia e aquicultura da Bacia do Rio Uruguai, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Campus Uruguaiana, Uruguaiana, Brazil

    Thiago Gralha

  5. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Computação Aplicada (PPGCAP), Universidade Federal do Pampa, Campus Bagé, Bagé, Brazil

    Sandro Camargo

  6. Food Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany

    Julia Bornhorst

Authors
  1. Eugênia Carla Kuhn
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  2. Maurício Tavares Jacques
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  3. Daniela Teixeira
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  4. Sören Meyer
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  5. Thiago Gralha
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  6. Rafael Roehrs
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  7. Sandro Camargo
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  8. Tanja Schwerdtle
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  9. Julia Bornhorst
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  10. Daiana Silva Ávila
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Contributions

E.C.K conceptualization, investigation, methodology, data curation, formal analysis, writing- original draft; M.T.J conceptualization, supervision, methodology, formal analysis, writing - original draft; D.T methodology, data curation, formal analysis, writing; S.M methodology, data curation, formal analysis; T.G methodology, data curation, formal analysis, writing; R.R data curation, formal analysis, supervision, funding acquisition, writing; S. C data curation, formal analysis, writing- original draft; T. S methodology, data curation, formal analysis, resources, writing; J. B methodology, data curation, formal analysis, writing; D.S.A conceptualization, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, data curation, formal analysis, resources, supervision, writing.

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Correspondence to Daiana Silva Ávila.

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Kuhn, E.C., Jacques, M.T., Teixeira, D. et al. Ecotoxicological assessment of Uruguay River and affluents pre- and post-pesticides’ application using Caenorhabditis elegans for biomonitoring. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 21730–21741 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11986-4

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