Effects of invertebrate predators and a pesticide on temporary pond microcosms used for aquatic toxicity testing

• Published in: Environmental pollution (1987) 2004-09, Vol.131 (1), p.25-34
• Main Authors: Barry, Michael J, Davies, Warren
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Anisops; Anisops deanei; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Cladocera; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Endosulfan; Endosulfan - toxicity; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Fresh Water; Fresh water environment; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Invertebrates; Microcosm; Notonectidae; Pesticide; Pesticides - toxicity; Predatory Behavior; Toxicity test; Water Microbiology; Water Pollution - analysis
• ISSN: 0269-7491; 1873-6424
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2004.02.023

The effects of increased trophic complexity, through the addition of predatory notonectids ( Anisops deanei), on temporary pond microcosms used for aquatic toxicity testing were studied. Replicate microcosms were established using sediment from a dried temporary pond, and treated with one of four concentrations of the organochlorine pesticide endosulfan (0, 1, 10 or 50 μg/L), in the presence or absence of six A. deanei. The tanks were sampled regularly for nine weeks following the addition of the predators and the entire contents of each tank counted after 12 weeks. Analysis using non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) and non-parametric MANOVA showed that both Anisops and endosulfan at concentrations >10 μg/L significantly altered community structure. However, an interaction between the effects of Anisops and the effects of endosulfan was not detected. The addition of Anisops did not increase the variability of response and thus did not reduce the sensitivity of the test method.