Comparative toxicity of chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos: Ceriodaphnia dubia and Pimephales promelas

This study was done to characterize responses of Ceriodaphnia dubia Richard and Pimephales promelas Rafinesque exposed to aqueous solutions of chlorothalonil (tetrachloroisophthalonitrile) and chlorpyrifos ( O,O ‐diethyl O ‐3,5,6‐trichloro‐2‐pyridyl phosphorothioate). Chlorothalonil (a fungicide) and chlorpyrifos (an insecticide) are intensely used in agricultural, silvicultural, and urban settings. These pesticides may enter aquatic systems through several pathways including rainfall runoff. C. dubia and P. promelas have been used to monitor surface waters and discern the effects of pesticides that contaminate those waters. Modified static renewal exposures (7 or 10 days) with individual solutions of chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos were used to obtain mortality data for C. dubia and P. promelas , from which potency curves were derived, as well as sublethal effects data (reproduction or growth). In these experiments P. promelas was more sensitive to chlorothalonil, and C. dubia was more sensitive to chlorpyrifos. Lower and upper thresholds (i.e., LC 0 and LC 100 ) for 7‐day P. promelas exposures to chlorothalonil were 14.4 and 30.8 μg/L, respectively, in contrast to the lower and upper threshold values, 103 and 210 μg/L, respectively, for C. dubia . Ten‐day exposures of C. dubia to chlorpyrifos resulted in lower and upper threshold values of 0.05 and 0.09 μg/L, whereas 10‐day exposures of P. promelas to chlorpyrifos yielded threshold values of 26 and 274 μg/L. The results of this study illustrated differences in species' sensitivities to chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos as well as differences in the duration of the exposure necessary to illustrate effects that might be elicited from pesticide exposures. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 17: 503–512, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/tox.10091