Triazine herbcides: Ecological risk assessment in North American surface waters
- Univ. of Guelph (Canada)
The triazine herbicides are some of the most widely used pesticides in North America. Some are found in surface waters in North America and risks to aquatic ecosystems are a possible concern. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive aquatic ecological risk assessment conducted using probabilistic risk assessment techniques. The assessment of exposure data concentrated on Midwestern us watersheds, the area of greatest triazine use in North America and showed that concentrations of some triazines rarely exceeded 20 {mu}g/L in rivers, streams, and reservoirs. The effects assessment showed that phytoplankton were the most sensitive organisms to triazines followed, in decreasing order of sensitivity, by macrophytes, benthic invertebrates, zooplankton and fish. Distribution analysis of sensitivity to atrazine showed 10th percentile of 37 {mu}g/L for LC50s in all organisms and 5.4 {mu}g/L for LC50s in algae and plants. Simazine showed 10th percentiles of 188 {mu}g/L for LC50s in all organisms and 27 {mu}g/L for LC50s in aquatic plants. Comparisons of the exposure and effects distributions showed low probabilities of exceeding the 10th percentiles of the sensitivity distributions. These results will be discussed in relation to the mechanism of action of these substances and other stressors in the environment.
- OSTI ID:
- 369978
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960376-; TRN: 96:003805-0025
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), New Orleans, LA (United States), 24-28 Mar 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of 211th ACS national meeting; PB: 2284 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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The aquatic ecotoxicology of triazine herbicides
Atrazine and total triazines: Exposure patterns in midwestern surface waters
Related Subjects
55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
SURFACE WATERS
WATER POLLUTION
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
TOXICITY
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
PESTICIDES
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
ALGAE
INVERTEBRATES
PLANT GROWTH
HERBICIDES
PHYTOPLANKTON
RISK ASSESSMENT
RIVERS
STREAMS
TRIAZINES
WATERSHEDS
ZOOPLANKTON