Toxicity of Heavy Metals and Detergent Inducing Morphological Deformities and Survival Rate of Chironomous Circumdatus

Abstract

In Chironomidae larvae, the potential effects of heavy metals and detergent can be seen as a result of morphological deformities in larval mentum, mandibles, oral cavity, and in different body regions. In this experiment, the objectives were to examine (I) The potential effects of heavy metals forming morphological deformities in Chironomidae larvae. (II) The survival rate of Chironomidae larvae in exposure to detergent and heavy metals. (III) To establish a dose-response relationship between toxicant and chironomid larvae. Consecutive developmental stages of larvae from egg to fourth instar were chronically exposed to the four sublethal concentrations of lead (0, 5, 50, 200 µg/g), copper (0, 1, 10, 100 µg/g), and detergent (0, 100, 200, 300 mg/g). Tetraphyll flakes were given as food. This experiment reveals the assessment of toxicity by the sublethal concentration of copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), and detergent induce low to high range of mouthpart and body deformities and survival rates in different instars of Chironomous circumdatus larvae during chronic exposure tests over several generations. According to the consecutive observations, it was found that the deformation frequency of oral region and body were high in detergent medium while lead and copper showed comparatively less deformation rate and high survival. In both lead and copper media, the survival rate shows a declining pattern and deformation frequency increased on increasing the dose.