Thiamethoxam is a neonicotinoid insecticide used widely in agriculture to control a broad spectrum of chewing and sucking insect pests. Recent detection of thiamethoxam in surface waters has raised interest in characterizing the potential impacts of this insecticide to aquatic organisms. We report the results of toxicity testing (acute and chronic) conducted under good laboratory practices for more than 30 freshwater species (insects, molluscs, crustaceans, algae, macrophytes, and fish) and 4 marine species (an alga, a mollusc, a crustacean, and a fish). As would be anticipated for a neonicotinoid, aquatic primary producers and fish were the least sensitive organisms tested, with acute median lethal and effect concentrations (LC50/EC50) observed to be !80 mg/L in all cases, which far exceeds surface water exposure concentrations. Tested molluscs, worms, and rotifers were similarly insensitive (EC50 ! 100 mg/L), except for Lumbriculus sp., with an EC50 of 7.7 mg/L. In general, insects were the most sensitive group in the study, with most acute EC50 values < 1 mg/L. However, the crustaceans Asellus aquaticus and Ostracoda exhibited a sensitivity similar to that of insects (acute EC50 < 1 mg/L), and the midge larvae Chaoborus sp. were relatively insensitive compared with other insects (EC50 > 5.5 mg/L). The most sensitive chronic response was for Chironomus riparius, with a 30-d no-observed-effect concentration (NOEC; emergence) of 0.01 mg/L. Observed toxicity to the tested marine organisms was comparable to that of freshwater species. We used the reported data to construct species sensitivity distributions for thiamethoxam, to calculate 5% hazard concentrations (HC5s) for acute data (freshwater invertebrates), and compared these with measured concentrations from relevant North American surface waters. Overall, based on acute toxicity endpoints, the potential acute risk to freshwater organisms was found to be minimal (likelihood of exceeding HC5s < 1%).

The herbicide atrazine is a photosynthetic inhibitor used around the world in agricultural applications. Contamination of surface waters adjacent to treated areas can directly reduce growth of nontarget aquatic autotrophs, but the severity of impacts is highly dependent on species sensitivity and exposure concentration. Secondary effects resulting from macrophyte or phytoplankton decline may include an expansion of the more tolerant periphyton community. Recently, this shift in the autotrophic community has been proposed as a mechanism for increased rates of parasite infections in amphibians via augmented populations of aquatic snails which act as intermediate hosts to larval trematodes. To further clarify this relationship, an outdoor microcosm study was conducted to examine the effects of atrazine on primary production and snail populations over a range of environmentally relevant concentrations. In July 2009, 15 experimental ponds were treated to achieve initial concentrations of 0, 1, 10, 30, and 100 µg/L atrazine. Over a period of 73 d, measures were taken of macrophyte, phytoplankton, and periphyton biomass, growth, and fecundity of caged snails (Physella spp. and Stagnicola elodes) and free-living snails (Physella spp.). Except for declines in macrophyte biomass at the highest treatment level, no consistent relationships were found between atrazine concentration and any measured parameter. Comparison of these results with previous findings highlights the variability of responses to atrazine exposure between similarly constructed freshwater communities, even at concentrations up to 20 times higher than sustained environmental levels.

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