Effect
of pesticides used in banana and pineapple plantations on aquatic ecosystems
in Costa Rica
No?l
J. Diepens1,2*, Sascha Pfennig1, Paul J. Van den Brink2,3,
Jonas S. Gunnarsson4, Clemens Ruepert1 and Luisa E.
Castillo1
1Central
American Institute for Studies on Toxic Substances (IRET), Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, 83-3000, Costa Rica
2Department
of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University,
Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen,
the Netherlands
3Alterra,
Wageningen University and Research Centre. P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen,
the Netherlands
4Department
of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm,
SE-106 91, Sweden
*Corresponding
Author E-mail: noel.diepens@wur.nl
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Publication Data
Paper received:
27 April 2013
Revised received:
24 June 2013
Accepted:
05 September 2013
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Abstract
Current
knowledge on fate and effect of agricultural pesticides comes is mainly from
temperate ecosystems. More studies are needed in tropical systems in order to
assess contamination risks to non-target endemic tropical species from the
extensive use of pesticides e.g. in banana and pineapple plantations. In this
study, acute laboratory toxicity tests with organophosphate pesticides
ethoprophos and chlorpyrifos were conducted on two Costa Rican species,
cladoceran Daphnia ambigua and fish Parachromis dovii. Tests
showed that chlorpyrifos was more toxic than ethoprophos to D. ambigua
and P. dovii and that D. ambigua was also more sensitive than P.
dovii to both pesticides. Additionally, bioassays were performed by
exposing D. magna and P. dovii to contaminated water collected
from the field. Chemical analyses of field water revealed that fungicides
were generally the most frequent pesticide group found, followed by
insecticides/nematicides and herbicides. The bioassays and values obtained
from the literature confirmed that D. magna was more sensitive to pesticide
contamination than P. dovii and that D. ambigua was more
sensitive than D. magna, suggesting that the native cladoceran is a
more suitable test species than its temperate counterpart. Species
sensitivity distributions showed no significant difference in sensitivity
between tropical and temperate fish and the arthropod species exposed to
chlorpyrifos in this study. Choline esterase activity (ChE) was measured in P.
dovii in laboratory tests in order to assess the applicability of this
biomarker. ChE inhibition in P. dovii was observed in the laboratory
at levels below the LC10 of both ethoprophos and chlorpyrifos,
confirming that ChE is an efficient biomarker of exposure. Both indigenous
Costa Rican species used in this study were found to be suitable standard
tropical test species. Further studies are needed to investigate how
protective the safe environmental concentrations, derived from LC50
of native tropical species, are for protecting tropical aquatic natural
communities.
Key
words
Acute
toxicity, Bioassays, Chlorpyrifos, ChE inhibition, Ethoprophos, Tropical
aquatic ecosystems
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