Acute Ecotoxicity of Exposure to Sugarcane Ashes on the Behaviour of Predator and Prey Fish Species

Abstract

the effects of sublethal SCA concentration on aquatic organisms. In this study, we evaluated the behaviour of a piscivorous (Hoplerythrinus unitaeniatus) and an invertivorous (Moenkhausia forestii) fish species, after a short-term (24 h) exposure to a sublethal concentration of SCA (0.8 g L −1 ). We hypothesized that the outcomes of predator-prey interaction would change when the players are subjected to sublethal SCA concentration. Our findings revealed that neither the behaviours of predator and prey fish species nor the outcome of their interactions was changed by the exposure to sublethal SCA concentrations, suggesting that their behavioural traits were not particularly sensitive to SCA. However, we emphasize that (i) other predatory and anti-predator behavioural traits could be affected by SCA even at under 0.8 g L −1 concentration and (ii) higher concentrations of SCA and/or long-term exposure may trigger profound changes in the behaviour of predator and prey fish species. Our findings are worrisome because there are new public policies to expand sugarcane production in Brazil, with the possibility of continuing burning sugarcane crops across the country. This will increase the input of SCA into aquatic systems, generating more prominent and pervasive negative impacts than those evaluated in this study.

Behavioral and histopathological changes of Clarias gariepinus as a predatory fish against Culex pipiens larvae following exposure to sublethal concentration of quinclorac and bensulfuron-methyl based herbicide

“…stephensi (Liston) larvae compared with C. idella, Cyprinus carpio L., and O. niloticus (Ghosh et al, 2005). Earlier studies demonstrated that the predation rates of C. gariepinus and other indigenous and exotic larvivorous fi sh species were greatly associated with diff erent biological traits such as the biotype, size, developmental stages and sex of the larvivorous fi sh, and the genera, developmental stages and population density of mosquito prey (Seng et al, 2008;Chala et al, 2016;Mohamed et al, 2021), or the presence of diff erent chemical and physical stressors such as pesticides, light, and salinity in aquatic habitats (Kerby et al, 2012;Yofukuji et al, 2021).…”

“…to reduce the activity and change swimming speed behavior (rest and slow swim) that may decrease the attack capability rate on mosquito larvae. The presence of chemical contaminants such as heavy metals and pesticides in aquatic habitats may aff ect the survival and predatory ability of predatory fi sh by decreasing the predation rates, altering their swimming ability or reducing their vigor (Kerby et al, 2012;Monde et al, 2016;Yofukuji et al, 2021). Changes in ecological functions of mobility and predation may be due to the inhibitory eff ect of the toxic compounds on fi sh's acetylcholinesterase (Banaee, 2012).…”

Vetores de mudança diretos e indiretos que afetam a introdução, o estabelecimento e a disseminação de espécies exóticas invasoras

“…Pesquisas recentes têm demonstrado que as EEIs podem ser mais resistentes à contaminação da água por cinzas. Dessa forma, a chegada desse contaminante à água facilita o estabelecimento de tais espécies como resultado da perda de biodiversidade nativa (Gonino et al 2019, Yofukuji et al 2021.…”

Continuous and Impact Cutting in Mechanized Sugarcane Harvest: Quality, Losses and Impurities

“…Mechanized sugarcane harvesting brought several environmental benefits, reducing the need for labor and fires [1] and increasing agricultural performance [2]. However, mechanized harvesting also generates problems, such as increased raw impurities, field losses [3], lower cut quality [4][5][6][7] and ratoons with damage [8], resulting in fragmented stumps [9].…”