Acute Toxicity of Malathion, Permethrin, and Roundup on the Tropical Freshwater Shrimp <i>Xiphocaris elongata (Guérin-Méneville, 1855)</i>

Abstract

Urban and agricultural runoffs can transport contaminants and pesticides into freshwater ecosystems, particularly in the developing tropics. For instance, organophosphate and pyrethroids pesticides, such as Roundup, Malathion, and Permethrin, have been found in tropical streams. The uncontrolled application of these pesticides has become a growing concern due to their adverse effects on various non-targeted organisms. Unfortunately, most studies have focused on a few selected model species, ignoring the effects on other non-target organisms, which may play an important role in tropical lotic ecosystems. In addition, the biological characteristics of aquatic crustaceans, including their morphology, physiology, and behavior, make them susceptible to toxic chemicals. For this reason, this study used the widely distributed freshwater shrimp Xiphocaris elongata as a model organism to determine the acute toxicity of Permethrin, Malathion, and Roundup. Our results show that the proportion of mortality of X. elongata in each concentration group became progressively higher as the concentration of exposure increased. We also found that the synthetic pyrethroid Permethrin was the most toxic pesticide tested, with a median lethal concentration (LC50) value for 96 h of 3.96 × 10−6 µg·L−1, followed by organophosphate Malathion (8.87 µg·L−1) and Roundup (748.92 µg·L−1). Experiments with this freshwater shrimp showed a good control performance and reproducibility for the tested pesticides. This study demonstrated that X. elongata is a suitable test organism that can be a representative bioindicator of pesticide toxicity in tropical streams.

Keywords

• aquatic toxicology
• organophosphate
• pesticide
• Puerto Rico
• pyrethroids