A multitude of biologically active pharmaceuticals contaminate surface waters globally, yet their presence in aquatic food webs remain largely unknown. Here, we show that over 60 pharmaceutical compounds can be detected in aquatic invertebrates and riparian spiders in six streams near Melbourne, Australia. Similar concentrations in aquatic invertebrate larvae and riparian predators suggest direct trophic transfer via emerging adult insects to riparian predators that consume them. As representative vertebrate predators feeding on aquatic invertebrates, platypus and brown trout could consume some drug classes such as antidepressants at as much as one-half of a recommended therapeutic dose for humans based on their estimated prey consumption rates, yet the consequences for fish and wildlife of this chronic exposure are unknown. Overall, this work highlights the potential exposure of aquatic and riparian biota to a diverse array of pharmaceuticals, resulting in exposures to some drugs that are comparable to human dosages.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are ubiquitous in freshwater ecosystems worldwide and are recognized as contaminants of concern. Currently, contaminants of concern are classified for their persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity (PBT criteria). PPCPs are not classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), although some PPCPs share characteristics similar to POPs. For example, PPCPs are known to be pseudopersistent due to constant discharge into the environment, often at low concentrations. At commonly reported environmental concentrations, PPCPs are rarely toxic, but the ability of these compounds to disrupt ecological processes and functions in freshwater ecosystems is often overlooked. Herein we briefly summarize recent studies highlighting the potential ecological effects of PPCPs, including effects on key ecological processes (e.g. primary productivity and community respiration), and we propose that appropriate screening for harmful effects of PPCPs in surface waters should be expanded to include Ecologically Disrupting Compounds (EcoDC) in addition to the established PBT criteria.

The presence of pharmaceuticals, including illicit drugs in aquatic systems, is a topic of environmental significance because of their global occurrence and potential effects on aquatic ecosystems and human health, but few studies have examined the ecological effects of illicit drugs. We conducted a survey of several drug residues, including the potentially illicit drug amphetamine, at 6 stream sites along an urban to rural gradient in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. We detected numerous drugs, including amphetamine (3 to 630 ng L(-1)), in all stream sites. We examined the fate and ecological effects of amphetamine on biofilm, seston, and aquatic insect communities in artificial streams exposed to an environmentally relevant concentration (1 μg L(-1)) of amphetamine. The amphetamine parent compound decreased in the artificial streams from less than 1 μg L(-1) on day 1 to 0.11 μg L(-1) on day 22. In artificial streams treated with amphetamine, there was up to 45% lower biofilm chlorophyll a per ash-free dry mass, 85% lower biofilm gross primary production, 24% greater seston ash-free dry mass, and 30% lower seston community respiration compared to control streams. Exposing streams to amphetamine also changed the composition of bacterial and diatom communities in biofilms at day 21 and increased cumulative dipteran emergence by 65% and 89% during the first and third weeks of the experiment, respectively. This study demonstrates that amphetamine and other biologically active drugs are present in urban streams and have the potential to affect both structure and function of stream communities.

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