Toxicity of fipronil and its enantiomers to marine and freshwater non-targets

Fipronil is a phenylpyrazole insecticide used in agricultural and domestic settings for controlling various insect pests in crops, lawns, and residential structures. Fipronil is chiral; however, it is released into the environment as a racemic mixture of two enantiomers. In this study, the acute toxicity of the (S,+) and (R,-) enantiomers and the racemic mixture of fipronil were assessed using Simulium vittatum IS-7 (black fly), Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog), Procambarus clarkii (crayfish), Palaemonetes pugio (grass shrimp), Mercenaria mercenaria (hardshell clam), and Dunaliella tertiolecta (phytoplankton). Results showed that S. vittatum IS-7 was the most sensitive freshwater species to the racemic mixture of fipronil (LC50 = 0.65 microg/L) while P. pugio was the most sensitive marine species (LC50 = 0.32 microg/L). Procambarus clarkii were significantly more sensitive to the (S,+) enantiomer while larval P. pugio were significantly more sensitive to the (R,-) enantiomer. Enantioselective toxicity was not observed in the other organisms tested. Increased mortality and minimal recovery was observed in all species tested for recovery from fipronil exposure. These results indicate that the most toxic isomer of fipronil is organism-specific and that enantioselective toxicity may be more common in crustaceans than in other aquatic organisms.     

Monitoring of non-point source pollutants load from a mixed forest land use

The aim of this study was to determine the unit load of NPS (non-point source) pollutants including organic variables such as BOD (biochemical oxygen demand),COD (chemical oxygen demand) and DOC (dissolved organic carbon),nitrogen and phosphorus constituents,and suspended solids (SS) and their event mean concentration (EMC) of runoff flows from a water-shed of mixed forest land use by intensive field experiments.Field monitoring for continuous measurements of rainfall,flow,and water quality was conducted over 12 storm events during 2008–2009 using automated and manual sampling methods.The EMCs of individual runoff event were estimated for each water quality constituent based on the flow rate and concentration data of runoff discharge.The average EMCs of BOD,COD,DOC,SS,TN (total nitrogen),NH 4+ -N,NO 3- -N,TP (total phosphorus),PO 43- -P from the mixed forest land were 1.794,3.498,1.462,10.269,0.862,0.044,0.634,0.034,and 0.005 mg/L,respectively.The annual unit loads of BOD,COD,DOC,SS,TN,NH 4+ -N,NO 3- -N,TP and PO 43--P were estimated as 66.9,133.2,55.5,429.8,36.5,1.6,26.9,1.3 and 0.1 kg/(ha·yr),respectively.In addition,affecting parameters on the EMCs were investigated by statistic analysis of the field data.As a result,significant correlations with precipitation,rainfall intensity,and total runoff flows were found in most constituents.