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Behavioural and biochemical alterations by chlorpyrifos in aquatic insects: an emerging environmental concern for pristine Alpine habitats

  • Challenges in Emerging Environmental Contaminants
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Abstract

This study aimed to assess how different concentrations of the insecticide chlorpyrifos (1.1, 5.24, 11, 52.4, 110, 262, 524 and 1100 ng L−1) affect the swimming behaviour of Diamesa zernyi larvae following exposure. A video tracking system was employed to analyse two swimming traits (total distance moved and average speed) of the larvae simultaneously after 3 days of exposure to the pesticide at 2 °C. The behavioural results were also interpreted according to biochemical responses to oxidative stress (OS) induced by chlorpyrifos, based on malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl (PCC) content. Both distance and speed significantly decreased after 72 h of exposure to chlorpyrifos concentrations of ≥ 110 ng L−1, under which significant OS was detected as lipid peroxidation (level of MDA) and protein carbonylation (level of carbonyl). Analysis of altered swimming behaviour, along with MDA and carbonyl content, indicated that ≥ 110 ng L−1 contamination levels of the insecticide cause the organism to reallocate energy normally used for locomotor activity to repair cell damage, which might explain the strong impairment to locomotor performance. Locomotor performance is an ecologically relevant trait for elucidating the population dynamics of key species, with disturbance to this trait having long-term negative impacts on population and community structure. Therefore, chlorpyrifos insecticides represent a serious ecological risk for mountain aquatic species based on the detrimental effects observed in the current study, as the tested concentrations were those at which the insecticide is found in many Alpine rivers of Italy.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Alessandra Franceschini, Francesca Paoli and Francesco Bellamoli (MUSE-Museo delle Scienze of Trento) for helping with field and laboratory work.

Funding

This work was supported by the Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto Foundation (CARITRO No. Rif. Int.: 2015.0199; 2015–2018) within the RACE-TN Project (“Valutazione del rischio ambientale dei contaminanti emergenti nei fiumi trentini: effetti sulla vita selvatica e sull’uomo”/“Environmental Risk assessment of emerging contaminants in Trentino rivers: effects on wildlife and human health”, Grant No. 2015.0199; 2015-2018) coordinated by Valeria Lencioni (MUSE), by the MUSE and by the University of Milano-Bicocca.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences – DISAT, University of Milano – Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Valeria Di Nica & Sara Villa

  2. Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, MUSE-Museo delle Scienze, Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza, 3, 38122, Trento, Italy

    Ana Belén Muñiz González & Valeria Lencioni

  3. Group of Biology and Environmental Toxicology, Department Physics, Mathematics and Fluids, Science Faculty, National Distance Education University (UNED), Madrid, Spain

    Ana Belén Muñiz González

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  1. Valeria Di Nica
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  2. Ana Belén Muñiz González
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Correspondence to Valeria Lencioni.

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Di Nica, V., González, A.B.M., Lencioni, V. et al. Behavioural and biochemical alterations by chlorpyrifos in aquatic insects: an emerging environmental concern for pristine Alpine habitats. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 30918–30926 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06467-2

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