Sublethal effects of the insecticide fenitrothion on freshwater phytopiankton

Abstract

The effects of the insecticide fenitrothion (O,O-dimethyl-O-(3-methyl-4-nitrophenyl)phosphorothioate) were investigated on the unicellular phytoplankton Ankistrodesmus falcatus, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Chlamydomonas segnis, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, Navicula sp., Scenedesmus obliquus, Selenastrum capricornutum, and Staurastrum sp. at concentrations of 0.1, 1.0, and 10 mg∙L−1. Following a 24-h exposure, total lipids, fatty acid profiles, and bioaccumulation of fenitrothion into algal cells were determined for the above species. Total lipids may play an important role in determining sensitivity of phytoplankton to fenitrothion stress over 96-h exposures. A saturation occurred in A. falcatus membranes represented by the 5.4 and 4.3% increases in palmitic (16:0) and oleic (18:1) acids, respectively, and 1.8 and 7.6% decreases in linoleic (18:2) and linolenic (18:3) acids, respectively. This resulted in a shift from a profile dominated by linolenic (18:3) acid to one dominated by the more saturated oleic (18:1) acid. Bioconcentration factors (BCF), or the ratio of the total radiocarbon associated with algae, calculated for viable Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Chlamydomonas segnis cells were 293 and 124, respectively. BCFs for dead cells were 1261 and 1025 for the same species, respectively. These investigations showed differential insecticide bioaccumulation between species. This bioaccumulation was shown to be correlated with the total lipid content of algal cells. Key words: algae, fatty acids, fenitrothion, lipids, pesticide.