Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of short-term pulses of atrazine on attached algal communities in a small stream

  • Published:
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The impact of short-term atrazine exposures on attached algal community composition and standing crop was investigated during the summer in a small, spring-fed stream in western Nebraska. Replicate trays of clay tiles were anchored to the stream bed, allowed to colonize for two weeks, then enclosedin situ with plexiglass boxes and exposed to a pulse of atrazine at 0, 2, 30, or 100 μg/L for 24 hr. A second 24-hr atrazine pulse was applied two weeks later. Atrazine did not have a significant effect on cell densities of the dominant algae or the ash-free dry weight biomass of the periphyton community. The absence of observed treatment effects was likely due to the low but realstic levels of atrazine used and the transient nature of the application. Sediment deposition had a much greater influence on the attached algal community than short-term pulses of the herbicide.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anonymous (1987) National pesticide use analyzed. Alternative Agriculture News 5:1–4

  • American Public Health Association (1981) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. 15th ed (incl. supplement), American Public Health Association, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashton FM, Bisalputra T, Risley EB (1966) Effect of atrazine onChlorella vulgaris. Amer J Bot 53:217–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker DB (1988) Sediment, nutrient and pesticide transport in selected lower Great Lakes tributaries. US Environmental Protection Agency EPA-905/4-88-001, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker DB, Krieger KA, Setzier JV (1981) The concentrations and transport of pesticides in northwestern Ohio rivers-1981. Tech Rep Series, No. 19, US Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockway DL, Smith PD, Stancil FE (1984) Fate and effects of atrazine in small aquatic microcosms. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 32:345–353

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Butler GL, Deason TR, O'Kelley JC (1975) The effect of atrazine, 2,4-D, methoxychlor, carbaryl and diazinon on the growth of planktonic algae. Brit Phycol J 10:371–376

    Google Scholar 

  • deNoyelles F, Kettle WD, Sinn DE (1982) The responses of plankton communities in experimental ponds to atrazine, the most heavily used pesticide in the United States. Ecology 63:1285–1293

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank R, Sirons GJ (1979) Atrazine: Its use in corn production and its loss to stream waters in southern Ontario, 1975–1977. Science Total Environ 12:223–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank R, Sirons GJ, Thomas RL, McMillan K (1979) Triazine residues in suspended solids (1974–1976) and water (1977) from the mouths of Canadian streams flowing into the Great Lakes. J Great Lakes Res 5:131–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldsborough LG, Robinson GGC (1986) Changes in periphytic algal community structure as a consequence of short herbicide exposures. Hydrobiologia 139:177–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamala JA, Kollig HP (1985) The effects of atrazine on periphyton communities in controlled laboratory ecosystems. Chemosphere 14:1391–1408

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton PB, Jackson GS, Kaushik NK, Solomon KR (1987) The impact of atrazine on lake periphyton communities, including carbon uptake dynamics using track autoradiography. Environ Pollut 46:83–103

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harris CI, Warren ER (1964) Adsorption and desorption of herbicides by soils. Weeds 12:120–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Herman D, Kaushik NK, Solomon KR (1986) Impact of atrazine on periphyton in freshwater enclosures and some ecological consequences. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 43:1917–1925

    Google Scholar 

  • Hersh CM, Crumpton WG (1987) Determination of growth rate depression of some green algae by atrazine. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 39:1041–1048

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoagland KD, Roemer SC, Rosowski JR (1982) Colonization and community structure of two periphyton assemblages, with emphasis on the diatoms (Bacillariophyceae). Amer J Bot 69:188–213

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollister TA, Walsh GE (1973) Differential responses of marine phytoplankton to herbicides: Oxygen evolution. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 9:291–295

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hörmann WD, Tournayre JC, Egli H (1979) Triazine herbicide residues in central European streams. Pesticides Monitoring J 13:128–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Horner RR, Welch EB (1981) Stream periphyton development in relation to current velocity and nutrients. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 38:449–457

    Google Scholar 

  • Kobayasi H (1961) Chlorophyll content in sessile algal community of Japanese mountain river. Bot Mag Tokyo 74:228–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosinski RJ, Merkle MG (1984) The effect of four terrestrial herbicides on the productivity of artificial stream algal communities. J Environ Qual 13:75–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Krieger KA, Baker DB, Kramer JW (1988) Effects of herbicides on streamAufwuchs productivity and nutrient uptake. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 17:299–306

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamberti GA, Resh VH (1985) Comparability of introduced tiles and natural substrates for sampling lotic bacteria, algae and macroinvertebrates. Freshwater Biol 15:21–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsen DP, deNoyelles F, Stay F, Shiroyama T (1986) Comparisons of single-species, microcosm and experimental pond responses to atrazine exposure. Environ Toxicol Chem 5:179–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Lay JP, Muller A, Peichl L, Klein W, Korte F (1984) Longterm effects of the herbicides atrazine and dichlobenil upon the phytoplankton density and physico-chemical conditions in compartments of a freshwater pond. Chemosphere 13:821–832

    Google Scholar 

  • Leonard RA (1988) Herbicides in surface waters. In: Grover R (ed) Environmental chemistry of herbicides, Vol. 1. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp 45–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch TR, Johnson HE, Adams WJ (1985) Impact of atrazine and hexachlorobiphenyl on the structure and function of model stream ecosystems. Environ Toxicol Chem 4:399–413

    Google Scholar 

  • McGlamery MD, Slife FW (1966) The adsorption and desorption of atrazine as affected by pH, temperature, and concentration. Weed Sci 14:237–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Millie DF, Hersh CM (1987) Statistical characterizations of the atrazine-induced photosynthetic inhibition ofCyclotella meneghiniana (Bacillariophyta). Aquat Toxicol 10:239–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Moorehead DL, Kosinski RJ (1986) Effect of atrazine on the productivity of artificial stream algal communities. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 37:330–336

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muir DCG, Yoo JY, Baker BE (1978) Residues of atrazine and n-deethylated atrazine in water from five agricultural watersheds in Quebec. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 7:221–235

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O'Kelley JC, Deason TR (1976) Degradation of pesticides by algae. US Environmental Protection Agency, Athens, GA, EPA-600/3-76-022

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson DM, Wright SJL (1988) Diffusion gradient plates for herbicide toxicity tests on micro-algae and cyanobacteria. Let Microbiol 7:87–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Plumley FG, Davis DE (1980) The effects of a photosynthesis inhibitor atrazine, on salt marsh edaphic algae, in culture, microecosystems, and in the field. Estuaries 3:271–277

    Google Scholar 

  • Richard JJ, Junk GA, Avery MJ, Nehring NL, Fritz JS, Svec HJ (1975) Residues in water. Pesticides Monitoring J 9:117–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosowski JR, Hoagland KD, Roemer SC (1978) The production of mucilage by diatoms in McConaughy, Pawnee and Yankee Hill reservoirs and the role of this material in the aquatic environment. Project completion report, Nebraska Water Resources Center, Lincoln, NE, A-043-NEB

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosowski JR, Hoagland KD, Aloi JE (1986) Structural morphology of diatom-dominated stream biofilm communities under the impact of soil erosion. In: Evans LV, Hoagland KD (eds) Algal Biofouling. Eisevier Sci Pub, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Stratton GW (1984) Effects of the herbicide atrazine and its degradation products, alone and in combination, on phototrophic microorganisms. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 13:35–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Torres AMR, O'Flaherty LM (1976) Influence of pesticides onChlorella, Chlorococcum, Stigeoclonium (Chlorophyceae),Tribonema, Vaucheria (Xanthophyceae), andOscillatoria (Cyanophyceae). Phycologia 15:25–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Véber K, Zahradník J, Breyl I, Krédl F (1981) Toxic effect and accumulation of atrazine in algae. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 27:872–876

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waldron AC (1974) Pesticide movement from cropland into Lake Erie. US Environmental Protection Agency, Athens, GA, EPA-660/2-74-03

    Google Scholar 

  • Wauchope RD (1978) The pesticide content of surface water draining from agricultural fields-a review. J Environ Qual 7:459–472

    Google Scholar 

  • Wells JS, Chappell WE (1965) The effects of certain herbicides on the growth ofChlorella pyrenoidosa 7-11-05. Proc 19th NE Weed Contr Conf, pp 449–450

  • Winer BJ (1971) Statistical principles in experimental designs. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu TL (1981) Atrazine residues in estuarine water and the aerial deposition of atrazine into Rhode River, Maryland. Water Air Soil Pollut 15:173–184

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Timothy A. Jurgensen

    Present address: Texas Water Commission-District 4, 1019 N. Ducanville Rd., 75116-2201, Ducanville, TX

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Texas Christian University, 76129, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

    Timothy A. Jurgensen & Kyle D. Hoagland

Authors
  1. Timothy A. Jurgensen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kyle D. Hoagland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jurgensen, T.A., Hoagland, K.D. Effects of short-term pulses of atrazine on attached algal communities in a small stream. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 19, 617–623 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01059084

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01059084

Keywords

Search

Navigation