DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/jss2004.10.118
Background, Aims and Scope. Variability of results from terrestrial ecotoxicological tests with arthropods demonstrate the importance of understanding the impact of soil composition has on the bioavailability of pollutants. Beside other soil parameters, the organic C content is known to be relevant to bioavailability. The aim of the present paper was to detect lethal and sublethal effects of plant protection products on soil-dwelling larvae of the carabid beetle Poecilus cupreus under different concentrations of soil organic C. The study was based on a familiar laboratory test method.
Methods. Larvae of the laboratory-reared carabid beetle P. cupreus were exposed to dimethoate in a standardised soil (Lufa 2.1), modified to four different concentrations of organic C between 0.5 to 2.8% by admixing peat. Dimethoate was applied to the soil surface at rates ranging between 40 and 250 g a.i./ha. Some larvae were exposed to an application of water to act as a control. One larva was released per test tube, with at least 20 larvae per treatment group. Effects on mortality and developmental time of the larvae and on the hatching weight of adult beetles were recorded. Dimethoate was selected as the test item because some dose-response data for different soils were already available and because the reproducibility of test results with dimethoate had already been shown in a previous ring test.
Results and Discussion. With increasing concentration of organic C in the soil substrate, mortality decreased at all tested rates of dimethoate. Consequently, LC50 values increased from 39 to 107 g a.i./ha with increasing organic C content from 0.5 to 2.8%. The results suggest higher bioavailability of dimethoate with decreasing content of organic C. The replication and magnitude of sublethal effects (hatching weight and developmental time) was insufficient to detect a clear interaction between dimethoate and organic C.
Conclusion. The results of the experiment reveal that the concentration of organic C in the soil substrate is influential on the effects and, by association, the toxicity of dimethoate to larvae of P. cupreus. For the interpretation of terrestrial ectotoxicological tests with arthropods, the composition of the substrate has to be taken into account.
Recommendations and Outlook. For reliable and reproducible test results, a well-defined and thoroughly controlled composition of the test soil is highly recommended. Test results should be used for risk assessments only after having taken the soil composition, especially the organic C content, into account. |
