Abstract
Avermectins and milbemycins are commonly used in agro-ecosystems for the control of parasites in domestic livestock. As integral members of agro-ecosystems with importance in maintaining pasture health through dung burial behaviour, dung beetles are an excellent non-target bio-indicator taxon for examining potential detrimental effects of pesticide application. The current review focuses on the relative toxicity of four different anthelmintics (ivermectin, eprinomectin, doramectin and moxidectin) in dung residues using dung beetles as a bio-indicator species. One of the implications of this review is that there could be an effect that extends to the entire natural assemblage of insects inhabiting and feeding on the dung of cattle treated with avermectin or milbemycin products. Over time, reduced reproductive rate would result in decreased dung beetle populations and ultimately, a decrease in the rate of dung degradation and dung burial.
Highlights
The importance placed on anthelmintics to bring parasite populations under control has resulted in a challenging arms race to develop a product that exhibits the perfect balance between host and non-target organism toxicity and pest resistance
The results revealed that neither dosage had any significant effect on adult survival, as described by Ridsdill-Smith (1988) and Wardhaugh and Rodriguez-Menendez (1988), or brood ball production when compared to the controls; emergence of adult E. intermedius from brood balls made with dung from cattle that received 200 μg/kg ivermectin was reduced for no more than 2 weeks after treatment (Fincher 1992)
Doramectin concentrations were higher than ivermectin concentrations, as the results showed that after 180 days of exposure to environmental conditions, dung collected 27 days after ivermectin treatment still contained 56% residue compared to dung collected from doramectin treatment, which contained 75% residue
Summary
The importance placed on anthelmintics to bring parasite populations under control has resulted in a challenging arms race to develop a product that exhibits the perfect balance between host and non-target organism toxicity and pest resistance. The results revealed that neither dosage had any significant effect on adult survival, as described by Ridsdill-Smith (1988) and Wardhaugh and Rodriguez-Menendez (1988), or brood ball production when compared to the controls; emergence of adult E. intermedius from brood balls made with dung from cattle that received 200 μg/kg ivermectin was reduced for no more than 2 weeks after treatment (Fincher 1992). A marked reduction in adult feeding activity was observed in treatments suffering the http://www.ojvr.org highest mortalities, namely day 1–8 dung, and the inference was made that mortality was a result of the accumulating toxic effects, which suppressed feeding (Wardhaugh & Rodriguez-Menendez 1988).
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