Are brackish water copepods susceptible to neonicotinoid pesticides? An experimental assessment across different salinity levels
Zooplankton are key organisms in aquatic food webs, but due to spatiotemporal salinity fluctuations, estuarine and brackish lakes support only a limited number of zooplankton species. The susceptibility of zooplankton to pesticide contamination, such as imidacloprid, is particularly important in the...
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Elsevier
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651325007791 |
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| author | Hiromichi Suzuki Yasushi Miyamoto Shinji Takahashi Jotaro Urabe |
| author_facet | Hiromichi Suzuki Yasushi Miyamoto Shinji Takahashi Jotaro Urabe |
| author_sort | Hiromichi Suzuki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Zooplankton are key organisms in aquatic food webs, but due to spatiotemporal salinity fluctuations, estuarine and brackish lakes support only a limited number of zooplankton species. The susceptibility of zooplankton to pesticide contamination, such as imidacloprid, is particularly important in these ecosystems, because there are fewer species to compensate for losses. However, whether zooplankton in brackish water are truly vulnerable to pesticide contamination is poorly examined. To address this uncertainty, we assessed the vulnerability of the calanoid copepod Sinocalanus tenellus, a dominant zooplankton in the brackish waters of East Asia, to imidacloprid under varying salinity conditions through individual and population-level experiments. The individual-level experiment revealed that both imidacloprid exposure and salinity changes had significant negative effects on the survival rate of S. tenellus. However, hazard assessments indicated that the risk posed by salinity changes was much greater than that posed by imidacloprid when pesticide concentrations were within ranges typically observed in natural habitats. In the population experiment, imidacloprid exposure had no significant effects on any ontogenetic stages, whereas even small salinity changes significantly affected juveniles of this species. These findings suggest that imidacloprid exposure has a much smaller impact on S. tenellus than salinity changes, except when imidacloprid contamination levels are higher than those typically found in nature. To accurately assess pesticide toxicity in brackish water ecosystems, environmental factors such as salinity must be considered as potential background influences. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c22294faebdc4f32a3358e2e9fd6bdcf |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0147-6513 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
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| series | Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety |
| spelling | doaj-art-c22294faebdc4f32a3358e2e9fd6bdcf2025-08-20T03:45:28ZengElsevierEcotoxicology and Environmental Safety0147-65132025-07-0130011843910.1016/j.ecoenv.2025.118439Are brackish water copepods susceptible to neonicotinoid pesticides? An experimental assessment across different salinity levelsHiromichi Suzuki0Yasushi Miyamoto1Shinji Takahashi2Jotaro Urabe3Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8578, Japan; Corresponding author.Fukui Prefectural Satoyama-Satoumi Research Institute, Wakasa, Fukui 919-1331, JapanGraduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, JapanGraduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8578, JapanZooplankton are key organisms in aquatic food webs, but due to spatiotemporal salinity fluctuations, estuarine and brackish lakes support only a limited number of zooplankton species. The susceptibility of zooplankton to pesticide contamination, such as imidacloprid, is particularly important in these ecosystems, because there are fewer species to compensate for losses. However, whether zooplankton in brackish water are truly vulnerable to pesticide contamination is poorly examined. To address this uncertainty, we assessed the vulnerability of the calanoid copepod Sinocalanus tenellus, a dominant zooplankton in the brackish waters of East Asia, to imidacloprid under varying salinity conditions through individual and population-level experiments. The individual-level experiment revealed that both imidacloprid exposure and salinity changes had significant negative effects on the survival rate of S. tenellus. However, hazard assessments indicated that the risk posed by salinity changes was much greater than that posed by imidacloprid when pesticide concentrations were within ranges typically observed in natural habitats. In the population experiment, imidacloprid exposure had no significant effects on any ontogenetic stages, whereas even small salinity changes significantly affected juveniles of this species. These findings suggest that imidacloprid exposure has a much smaller impact on S. tenellus than salinity changes, except when imidacloprid contamination levels are higher than those typically found in nature. To accurately assess pesticide toxicity in brackish water ecosystems, environmental factors such as salinity must be considered as potential background influences.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651325007791Brackish waterImidaclopridNeonicotinoidSalinity changeSinocalanusZooplankton |
| spellingShingle | Hiromichi Suzuki Yasushi Miyamoto Shinji Takahashi Jotaro Urabe Are brackish water copepods susceptible to neonicotinoid pesticides? An experimental assessment across different salinity levels Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety Brackish water Imidacloprid Neonicotinoid Salinity change Sinocalanus Zooplankton |
| title | Are brackish water copepods susceptible to neonicotinoid pesticides? An experimental assessment across different salinity levels |
| title_full | Are brackish water copepods susceptible to neonicotinoid pesticides? An experimental assessment across different salinity levels |
| title_fullStr | Are brackish water copepods susceptible to neonicotinoid pesticides? An experimental assessment across different salinity levels |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are brackish water copepods susceptible to neonicotinoid pesticides? An experimental assessment across different salinity levels |
| title_short | Are brackish water copepods susceptible to neonicotinoid pesticides? An experimental assessment across different salinity levels |
| title_sort | are brackish water copepods susceptible to neonicotinoid pesticides an experimental assessment across different salinity levels |
| topic | Brackish water Imidacloprid Neonicotinoid Salinity change Sinocalanus Zooplankton |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651325007791 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hiromichisuzuki arebrackishwatercopepodssusceptibletoneonicotinoidpesticidesanexperimentalassessmentacrossdifferentsalinitylevels AT yasushimiyamoto arebrackishwatercopepodssusceptibletoneonicotinoidpesticidesanexperimentalassessmentacrossdifferentsalinitylevels AT shinjitakahashi arebrackishwatercopepodssusceptibletoneonicotinoidpesticidesanexperimentalassessmentacrossdifferentsalinitylevels AT jotarourabe arebrackishwatercopepodssusceptibletoneonicotinoidpesticidesanexperimentalassessmentacrossdifferentsalinitylevels |