Environmental concentrations of pharmaceuticals alter metabolism, denitrification, and diatom assemblages in artificial streams

Robson, Stephanie Victoria; Rosi, Emma J.; Richmond, Erinn K.; Grace, Mike

doi:10.1086/708893

Cited by 27 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 66 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Pesticide‐induced alterations to respiration found in our study suggest that chemical contamination has the potential to alter the ecosystem metabolism in freshwater systems. While the influence of nutrient subsidies (nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon) on metabolism in lakes and streams is well studied (Stanley et al, 2016; Williamson et al, 2020; Woodward et al, 2012), few studies have examined the influence of chemical contaminants, such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals (but see Robson et al, 2020; Rosi‐Marshall et al, 2013), or heavy metals (but see Carlisle & Clements, 2005), on components of the carbon cycle. In our study, while insecticides led to persistent increases in ecosystem respiration and a bloom in phytoplankton, insecticides could have led to carbon storage as biomass, release of atmospheric carbon, or no change in net primary productivity compared to controls.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pesticides alter ecosystem respiration via phytoplankton abundance and community structure: Effects on the carbon cycle?

Rumschlag

Casamatta

Mahon

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Freshwater systems are critical to life on earth, yet they are threatened by the increasing rate of synthetic chemical pollution. Current predictions of the effects of synthetic chemicals on freshwater ecosystems are hampered by the sheer number of chemical contaminants entering aquatic systems, the diversity of organisms inhabiting these systems, the myriad possible direct and indirect effects resulting from these combinations, and uncertainties concerning how contaminants might alter ecosystem metabolism via changes in biodiversity. To address these knowledge gaps, we conducted a mesocosm experiment that elucidated the responses of ponds composed of phytoplankton and zooplankton to standardized concentrations of 12 pesticides, nested within four pesticide classes, and two pesticide types. We show that the effects of the pesticides on algae were consistent within herbicides and insecticides and that responses of over 70 phytoplankton species and genera were consistent within broad taxonomic groups. Insecticides generated top-down effects on phytoplankton community composition and abundance, which were associated with persistent increases in ecosystem respiration. Insecticides had direct toxic effects on cladocerans, which led to competitive release of copepods. These changes in the zooplankton community led to a decrease in green algae and a modest increase in diatoms. Herbicides did not change phytoplankton composition but reduced total phytoplankton abundance. This reduction in phytoplankton led to short-term decreases in ecosystem respiration. Given that ponds release atmospheric carbon and that worldwide pesticide pollution continues to increase exponentially, scientists and policy makers should pay more attention to the ways pesticides alter the carbon cycle in ponds via changes in communities, as demonstrated by our results. Our results show that these predictions can be simplified by grouping pesticides into types and species into functional groups.Adopting this approach provides an opportunity to improve the efficiency of risk assessment and mitigation responses to global change.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pesticides alter ecosystem respiration via phytoplankton abundance and community structure: Effects on the carbon cycle?

Rumschlag

Casamatta

Mahon

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Pesticide-induced alterations to respiration found in our study suggest that chemical contamination has the potential to alter the ecosystem metabolism in freshwater systems. While the influence of nutrient subsidies (nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon) on metabolism in lakes and streams is well studied (Woodward et al 2012;Stanley et al 2016;Williamson et al 2020), few studies have examined the influence of chemical contaminants, such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals (but see Rosi-Marshall et al 2013;Robson et al 2020), or heavy metals (but see Carlisle & Clements 2005), on components of the carbon cycle. In our study, while insecticides led to persistent increases in ecosystem respiration and a bloom in phytoplankton, insecticides could have led to carbon storage as biomass, release of atmospheric carbon, or no change in net primary productivity compared to controls.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pesticide-induced Alterations to Phytoplankton Abundance and Community Structure Alter Ecosystem Respiration: Implications for the Carbon Cycle?

Rumschlag

Cassamatta

Mahon

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Predictions of the effects of synthetic chemicals on freshwater ecosystems are hampered by the diversity of contaminants and organisms in these systems and uncertainties about how contaminants alter ecosystem metabolism. We conducted a mesocosm experiment to elucidate the responses of ponds composed of phytoplankton and zooplankton to standardized concentrations of 12 pesticides, nested within four pesticide classes and two pesticide types. The effects of the pesticides on algae were consistent within herbicides and insecticides and responses of >70 phytoplankton species/genera were consistent within taxonomic groups. Insecticides generated top-down effects on phytoplankton composition and abundance, which led to increases in ecosystem respiration. Herbicides reduced phytoplankton abundance, which led to decreases in primary productivity and ecosystem respiration. Widespread pesticide use could have underexplored implications for the global carbon cycle. While effects on ecosystem respiration were mediated through complex effects on communities, taxonomic groups of organisms responded similarly to pesticide types, suggesting opportunities to simplify ecological risk assessment.

show abstract

“…Pharmaceuticals are known to accumulate in biota (Richmond et al 2018), indicating that it is likely that citalopram accumulated within crayfish tissue. A similar approach to the current study that investigated the effects of a mixture of pharmaceuticals on denitrification followed a similar approach of targeting a nominal concentration (Robson et al 2020). We are unable to specify an exact concentration or exposure value from this study, and we only performed the study at one exposure level.…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to a common antidepressant alters crayfish behavior and has potential subsequent ecosystem impacts

Reisinger

Richmond

et al. 2021

Ecosphere

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pharmaceuticals are ubiquitous in aquatic environments, yet little is known regarding their impacts on ecological processes. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are frequently prescribed human antidepressants and have been shown to alter crayfish behavior. These behavioral alterations are particularly relevant as crayfish play a central role in freshwater ecosystems and often reach high biomass in anthropogenically influenced environments commonly exposed to pharmaceutical contamination. Using a 14-d artificial stream experiment, we exposed spinycheek crayfish (Faxonius limosus) to citalopram, a common SSRI, at an environmentally realistic concentration (0.5 µg/L). We used a Yshaped flume to quantify the effects of SSRI exposure on crayfish behavior and food/conspecific preference. We also tested the interacting effects of citalopram and crayfish on habitat-specific and wholestream ecosystem functions and biomass. Crayfish exposed to SSRIs exhibited increased boldness (time to emerge from shelters; P < 0.05) and spent more time orienting to food resources than nonexposed crayfish. Crayfish increased water column chlorophyll a (P < 0.01) and benthic organic matter (P = 0.03). Furthermore, crayfish potentially increased water column respiration (P = 0.09) and potentially decreased nitrate uptake (P = 0.05). SSRI exposure exhibited a potential effect of decreasing benthic chlorophyll a (P = 0.07), but there were no significant CRAY+SSRI interactions. Neither crayfish nor SSRI treatments affected whole-stream metabolism. These results suggest that citalopram has the potential to affect algal biomass but did not affect ecosystem functioning. However, alterations to crayfish behavior driven by SSRI exposure could lead to subsequent ecosystem-level effects as crayfish did affect various response metrics. We were unable to detect the effects of altered crayfish behavior at the ecosystem scale during our study, likely due to the short time frame (2 weeks) of our experiment. Further work is needed to quantify longer-term ecosystem consequences of sublethal effects of pharmaceuticals, but these results show that ecological responses to pharmaceuticals should consider the entire ecosystem.

show abstract

Environmental concentrations of pharmaceuticals alter metabolism, denitrification, and diatom assemblages in artificial streams

Cited by 27 publications

References 66 publications

Pesticides alter ecosystem respiration via phytoplankton abundance and community structure: Effects on the carbon cycle?

Pesticides alter ecosystem respiration via phytoplankton abundance and community structure: Effects on the carbon cycle?

Pesticide-induced Alterations to Phytoplankton Abundance and Community Structure Alter Ecosystem Respiration: Implications for the Carbon Cycle?

Exposure to a common antidepressant alters crayfish behavior and has potential subsequent ecosystem impacts

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About