Abstract
Despite the widespread use of herbicide glyphosate in cultivation, its extensive runoff into rivers and to coastal areas, and the persistence of this chemical and its main degradation product (aminomethylphosphonic acid, AMPA) in the environment, there is still little information on the potential negative effects of glyphosate, its commercial formulation Roundup® and AMPA on marine species. This study was conducted with the aim of providing a comparative evaluation of the effects of glyphosate-based and its derived chemicals on the larval development of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, thus providing new data to describe the potential ecotoxicity of these contaminants. In particular, the effects on larval development, growth and metabolism were assessed during 48 h of exposure from the time of egg fertilization. The results confirm that AMPA and its parent compound, glyphosate have similar toxicity, as observed in other marine invertebrates. However, interestingly, the Roundup® formulation seemed to be less toxic than the glyphosate alone.
Highlights
Since the 1990s, the presence of emerging contaminants in the aquatic environments has been studied in increasing depth [1]
At 24 hpf, the developmental stage was significantly affected in Aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) 50 μg/L and Roundup 100 μg/L with respect to the control (p < 0.05) (Figure 2)
A dose-dependent pattern of delay in development can be observed in glyphosate exposure
Summary
Since the 1990s, the presence of emerging contaminants in the aquatic environments has been studied in increasing depth [1]. These molecules are ubiquitously distributed in aquatic ecosystems, where‘they are continuously released and are found at medium–low (μg/L) and low levels (ng/L) [2,3]. Compared to adults, the early life stages have a greater surface/volume ratio and are less developed with regard to the ability to metabolise absorbed chemical substances These characteristics facilitate the uptake of chemical products on the one hand, and result in the poor efficiency of the detoxification processes on the other [6]. As the larval stages represent a potential bottleneck in the maintenance of natural populations, they are commonly used to evaluate the toxicity of a large variety of contaminants and in the biomonitoring of marine pollution [5,7]
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