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Synergistic effects of glyphosate formulation and parasite infection on fish malformations and survival
Author(s) -
Kelly David W.,
Poulin Robert,
Tompkins Daniel M.,
Townsend Colin R.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of applied ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.503
H-Index - 181
eISSN - 1365-2664
pISSN - 0021-8901
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01791.x
Subject(s) - glyphosate , biology , juvenile , parasite hosting , ecotoxicology , pesticide , toxicology , snail , juvenile fish , freshwater snail , zoology , ecology , world wide web , computer science
Summary 1. Anthropogenic pollution and disease can cause both lethal and sub‐lethal effects in aquatic species but our understanding of how these stressors interact is often not known. Contaminants can reduce host resistance to disease, but whether hosts are impacted at environmentally relevant concentrations is poorly understood. 2. We investigated the independent and combined effects of exposure to the common herbicide glyphosate and the trematode parasite Telogaster opisthorchis on survival and the development of spinal malformations in juvenile Galaxias anomalus , a New Zealand freshwater fish. We then investigated how exposure to a glyphosate concentration gradient (0·36, 3·6, 36 mg active ingredient (a.i.) L −1 ) affected the production and release of the infective cercarial stage of the parasite by its snail intermediate host Potamopyrgus antipodarum . 3. Survival of juvenile fish was unaffected by exposure to glyphosate alone (at an environmentally relevant concentration; 0·36 mg a.i. L −1 ) or by T. opisthorchis infection alone. However, simultaneous exposure to infection and glyphosate significantly reduced fish survival. 4. Juvenile fish developed spinal malformations when exposed either to infections alone or to infections and glyphosate, with a trend towards greater severity of spinal malformation after exposure to both stressors. 5. All snails exposed to the highest glyphosate concentration (36 mg a.i. L −1 ) died within 24 h. Snails exposed to a moderate concentration (3·6 mg a.i. L −1 ) produced significantly more T. opisthorchis cercariae than snails in the control group or the low concentration group (0·36 mg a.i. L −1 ; the same concentration as in the fish experiment). 6. Synthesis and applications. This is the first study to show that parasites and glyphosate can act synergistically on aquatic vertebrates at environmentally relevant concentrations, and that glyphosate might increase the risk of disease in fish. Our results have important implications when identifying risks to aquatic communities and suggest that threshold levels of glyphosate currently set by regulatory authorities do not adequately protect freshwater systems.