Sediment quality assessment of Beasley Lake: bioaccumulation and effects of pesticides in Hyalella azteca

Beasley Lake is a Conservation Effects Assessment Program (CEAP) watershed in the intensively cultivated Mississippi Delta, USA. Lake sediment quality at three sites was evaluated in 2004 and 2008 for biological impairment and uptake (animal tissue pesticide residues) from 14 pesticides and three metabolites using Hyalella azteca (Saussure). Eleven pesticides and three metabolites were detected in sediment among the three sites in 2004 and all 17 compounds examined were detected among the three sites in 2008, with the herbicide atrazine having the greatest concentrations. Twenty-eight-day H. azteca survival and growth (mg w/w) indicated no survival effects at any site for either year, but growth impairment occurred in H. azteca exposed to sediments in 2004, whereas growth enhancement occurred in H. azteca exposed to sediments at one site in 2008. Pesticides observed in animal tissue pesticide residues occurred more frequently and in greater concentrations in 2004 compared with 2008. Thirteen pesticides were detected in animal tissue pesticide residues in 2004, with chlorpyrifos occurring in the greatest concentrations, and six pesticides were detected in 2008, with p,p′-DDT occurring in the greatest concentrations. H. azteca tissue pesticide residues of seven pesticides, two herbicides, three insecticides, one insecticide metabolite, and p,p′-DDT, were associated with growth.