Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163916
Document author version
Title (Primary) Ultra-low Esfenvalerate concentrations increase biomass and may reduce competitiveness of Daphnia magna populations
Author Schunck, F.; Liess, M.
Source Titel Science of the Total Environment
Year 2023
Department OEKOTOX
Volume 886
Page From art. 163916
Language englisch
Topic T9 Healthy Planet
Keywords Sublethal population effects; Risk assessment; System-stress (SyS); Multiple stress; High-frequency monitoring; Hormesis
Abstract Aquatic communities are frequently exposed to pesticides at sublethal concentrations, known to affect fitness parameters such as feeding, reproduction and population growth. Beside adverse effects, beneficial responses to toxicants at low concentrations may also occur. Positive effects, however, are thought to involve trade-offs. To identify such trade-offs, we quantified the population level effects on Daphnia magna during population carrying capacity in laboratory nanocosms after exposure to a single pulse of the pyrethroid insecticide esfenvalerate, including ultra-low concentrations ≤1/30 EC50. Population abundance and biomass were monitored 3 times per week for 3 months using a non-invasive imaging technique. High concentrations ≥1/10 EC50 resulted in reduced fitness endpoints. In contrast, ultra-low concentrations in the range of 0.01 μg/L significantly increased the population abundance of small (+160 %), medium (+130 %) and large organisms (+340 %) and their combined biomass (+200 %) during the 2 months after exposure. During the first five days after exposure to 0.01 μg/L and 0.03 μg/L esfenvalerate, population biomass increased by 0.1 mg/day while staying constant in the controls. While high control mortality makes firm conclusions about population responses of D. magna to esfenvalerate difficult, we hypothesize that population increases at ultra-low concentrations may be due to a hormetic response, where reduced intraspecific competitiveness is the trade-off that enables this response.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=22561
Schunck, F., Liess, M. (2023):
Ultra-low Esfenvalerate concentrations increase biomass and may reduce competitiveness of Daphnia magna populations
Sci. Total Environ. 886 , art. 163916 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163916