Reaction of freshwater phyto- and zooplankton to pesticides.

Abstract

The reaction of plankton to the toxic effect of pesticides is considered at four levels: the cell, the organism, the population, and the biocenosis. The basis for the methodological approach to evaluation of response at the cell level was the principle of phase reactions. Depending on concentration, the pesticides may either suppress or stimulate the plankton organisms. Temperature may be decisive intoxic effects (pesticides are effective in a range of 15 to 25 degrees C). Most pesticides having algacidal activity are effective in a range of concentrations of 1-10 mg/liter. Phytoplankton as a whole has a high buffer capacity with respect to pesticides. Changes in ratios of basic components of phytoplankton effected by pesticides most often lead to a change of the dominant. Analogical changes are characteristic also for zooplankton; pesticides lead to the elimination of water fleas from its composition. The stimulating effect of a low concentration of pesticides, changes in the functional activity of the components of bacterial plankton, and changes coupled with this in biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen and phosphorous as well as elimination of water fleas from the plankton promotes the development of "secondary" eutrophication, that is, an increase in the biomass of the phytoplankton.