Abstract
Neonicotinoids are highly consumed systemic insecticides that mimic acetylcholine (ACh) with a specific mode of action at the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). The insecticide Actara® (active ingredient thiamethoxam- TMX) is a commercial formulation widely used for the control of various agricultural pest species. However, negative effects of TMX have been observed in non-target organisms. This work aimed to evaluate the biological effects of the commercial formulation Actara® on the aquatic non-target and non-biting larvae of Chironomus xanthus (Diptera). The lethal (LC50) and sublethal (body length, head capsule width, cumulative emergence, and mean time to emergence—EmT50) effects were determined in two subsequent generations (P and F1). The estimated 48 h LC50 for C. xanthus larvae exposed to Actara® was 73.02 µg TMX/L. By looking at the sublethal effects of Actara on the life cycle parameters of C. xanthus, we determined that none of the concentrations used induced a significantly different response in the organisms, compared to the control treatment (NOEC > 2 µg TMX/L). However, the head capsule width in the parental (P) generation exposed to Actara (≥ 0.9 µg TMX/L) was significantly bigger than the head capsule width of control animals. Overall, our results highlight that, at environmentally relevant concentrations, the commercial formulation Actara® is non-toxic to C. xanthus.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior (CAPES-Brazil; Doctoral Program process DS-PPG-PV 88887.653785/2021-00) and PROCAD-AMAZONIA-DRI (PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE COOPERAÇÃO ACADÊMICA NA AMAZÔNIA-DRI) (Doctoral Exchange Program, Edital nº 21/2018 processes 88881.666078/2022-01 and 88881.642710/2021-01), Financing Code 001 CAPES. Renato A. Sarmento thanks the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico Tecnológico (CNPq-Brazil), through the Research Productivity programme (Project 306011/2022-0) and Universal Project 405875/2021-5. Fabianne Ribeiro thanks the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the visiting researcher grant (PV 350118/2022-1). We also acknowledge the financial support to CESAM by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT/MCTES) through national funds (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020+ LA/P/0094/2020).
Funding
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior (CAPES-Brazil and PROCAD-AMAZONIA—Doctoral Exchange Program); Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico Tecnológico (CNPq-Brazil); Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT/MCTES—UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/2020 + LA/P/0094/2020).
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Rone S. Barbosa: Investigation, Data Curation,Writing—Original draft, Writing—Review & Editing, Formal analysis; Fabianne Ribeiro: Writing—Original draft, Writing—Review & Editing, Formal analysis; Eliane Aparecida Rotili: Data Curation, Supervision, Formal analysis; Rosaina Sousa Venega: Data Curation, Formal analysis; Aline Silvestre Pereira Dornelas: Writing—Review & Editing, Formal analysis; Amadeu M.V.M. Soares: Conceptualization, Resources, Writing—Review & Editing, Project administration, Funding acquisition; Carlos Gravato: Conceptualization – Supervision – Resources—Writing—Original draft, Writing—Review & Editing, Formal analysis; Renato Almeida Sarmento: Resources, Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing—Review & Editing, Project administration, Funding acquisition.
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Barbosa, R.S., Ribeiro, F., Rotili, E.A. et al. Is Actara® a less toxic neonicotinoid formulation? A multigenerational study using the non-target organism Chironomus xanthus. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 93779–93785 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28956-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28956-1