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Low Concentrations of Glyphosate-Based Herbicide Affects the Development of Chironomus xanthus

Water, Air, & Soil Pollution volume 228, Article number: 390 (2017) Cite this article

Abstract

Glyphosate is an herbicide commonly used worldwide for weed control and generally applied as part of a formulated product, such as Roundup. Contamination of surface water by glyphosate-based herbicides can cause deleterious effects in organisms, mainly in aquatic systems near to intensive agricultural areas (e.g., transgenic soybean crops). Given the lack of toxicological information concerning effects of glyphosate-based herbicides on tropical aquatic ecosystems, we aimed to evaluate the lethal and sub-lethal effects of Roundup Original® on the dipteran Chironomus xanthus. The endpoints evaluated included survival, growth, and emergence. The results showed that the 48 h LC50 for glyphosate to C. xanthus was 251.5 mg a.e./L. Larval growth of C. xanthus was reduced under glyphosate exposure (LOEC for body length = 12.06 mg/L; LOEC for head capsule width = 0.49 mg/L). No effects were observed in terms of cumulative percentage of imagoes emergence. However, low concentrations of glyphosate caused delayed emergence of females (at 1.53 mg/L) and induced fast emergence of males (at 0.49 mg/L), compared to control treatment. The deleterious effects of environmental relevant concentrations of glyphosate (0.7 mg/L) observed in terms of C. xanthus growth and development suggest that glyphosate-based herbicides can have negative consequences for aquatic non-target invertebrates such as Chironomus. Multigerational assays are needed to assess the long term effects of glyphosate on C. xanthus populations. Finally, our study adds ecotoxicological data on the effects of glyphosate-based herbicides on tropical freshwater invertebrates.

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Funding Information

This work was supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Brazil (Projects: A058_2013; PROCAD 2013—88881.068483/2014-01). We also thank Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-Brazil—Projects: 401201/2014-7 and 304178/2015-2; and young Talent Fellowship (314907/2014-9) and the Universidade Federal do Tocantins for financial support. Renato A. Sarmento received scholarship from CNPq (Produtividade em Pesquisa—Project: 304178/2015-2). João Pestana aknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for the research contracts under the program “Investigador FCT” (IF/01420/2015 ). The authors thank the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Goiano - campus Campos Belos for support and partnership.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Florestais e Ambientais, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Campus de Gurupi, Gurupi, TO, 77402-970, Brazil

    Diogenis F. Ferreira-Junior & Renato Almeida Sarmento

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Produção Vegetal, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Campus de Gurupi, Gurupi, TO, 77402-970, Brazil

    Renato Almeida Sarmento & Amadeu M.V.M. Soares

  3. Departamento de Biologia & CESAM, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Renato Almeida Sarmento, João L. T. Pestana & Amadeu M.V.M. Soares

  4. Departamento de Agropecuária (Conservação Ambiental e Ecotoxicologia), Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Goiano, campus Campos Belos, Campos Belos, GO, 73840-000, Brazil

    Althiéris de Souza Saraiva

  5. Departamento de Entomologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Vicosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil

    Renata Ramos Pereira & Marcelo Coutinho Picanço

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  1. Diogenis F. Ferreira-Junior
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  2. Renato Almeida Sarmento
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  3. Althiéris de Souza Saraiva
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Correspondence to Renato Almeida Sarmento.

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Ferreira-Junior, D.F., Sarmento, R.A., Saraiva, A.d.S. et al. Low Concentrations of Glyphosate-Based Herbicide Affects the Development of Chironomus xanthus . Water Air Soil Pollut 228, 390 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3536-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3536-9

Keywords

  • Roundup
  • Non-target organisms
  • Chironomidae
  • Survival
  • Life history