Single‐ and two‐species tests to study effects of the anthelmintics ivermectin and morantel and the coccidiostatic monensin on soil invertebrates

Abstract

Soil invertebrates in arable land are potentially exposed to veterinary medicines excreted by husbandry. The toxicity of three widely used pharmaceuticals was therefore investigated with the use of common soil invertebrates exposed in the laboratory in single- or two-species test system. The anthelmintic morantel did not cause significant mortality to either Folsomia fimetaria or Enchytraeus crypticus even at the highest tested concentration of 900 mg kg(-1) dry soil. The coccidiostatic monensin affected the reproduction of F. fimetaria and E. crypticus with soil concentrations estimated to cause a 10% effect at values of approximately 109 and 71.8 mg kg(-1) dry soil, respectively, but caused no mortality to adult. The anthelmintic ivermectin did not affect the survival of adult Hypoaspis aculeifer. Reproduction of H. aculeifer declined approximately 45% in response to ivermectin exposure of 5 mg kg(-1) dry soil. Ivermectin was highly toxic to F. fimetaria and affected the survival of adults with soil concentrations estimated to cause a 50% mortality at values of 5.3 mg kg(-1) dry soil in the single-species test system and 0.14 mg kg(-1) dry soil in the two-species test system. Reproduction of F. fimetaria was reduced by ivermectin with 10% effective concentration at 0.19 mg kg(-1) dry soil in the single-species test system and 0.02 mg kg(-1) dry soil in two-species test system. It was shown that species interactions may influence the response of test organisms to toxic substances. The data from this study and previously published data showed that, whereas ivermectin is likely to pose a risk to soil-dwelling invertebrates, adverse effects of morantel and monensin are unlikely to occur as a result of residue excretion from treated farm animals.

Fate and effects of ivermectin on soil invertebrates in terrestrial model ecosystems

“…These interpolated EC50 values from the TME study were with 0.12-0.22 mg/ kg soil dw at the lower range of EC50 values determined in a SMS test system, a gnotobiotic microcosm (Jensen, personal communication). In a similar test with only two species, F. fimetaria and H. aculeifer, the EC10 for the collembolan was even lower (0.02 mg ivermectin/kg soil dw; Jensen et al 2009). It can be concluded that collembolans are the most sensitive soil organisms for ivermectin tested so far.…”

A Review on the Toxicity and Non-Target Effects of Macrocyclic Lactones in Terrestrial and Aquatic Environments

“…The tests revealed a high sensitivity of the collembolan F. candida to IVM as shown by a NOEC of 0.3 mg kg -1 soil (d.w.). Very similar results were found in another collembolan species, Folsomia fimetaria, with NOEC of 0.3 [207] and 0.4 mg kg -1 soil d.w. [208], with an ACR between LC 50 and NOEC with F. fimetaria of about 28 [197] and 13 [208]. …”

Ecological risk assessment in pesticide contamination scenarios: from individuals to ecosystems responses

“…One of the worldwide used pesticides are the veterinary medicinal products to treat diseases, protect animal health, enhance productivity and promote growth (Jensen et al 2009). …”

“…A possible explanation could be the preference and availability of hemi-euedaphic prey as observed by , in this case mainly F. fimetaria. Jensen et al (2009) reported the predatory-prey interactions between these two species and reported the influence response of test organisms to toxic substances. Although, the predatory mites were affected by all the exposure concentrations with a few extracted animals.…”

“…ivermectin, abamectin, doramectin) the ivermectin is a macrocyclic lactones isolated from a fermentation broth of the soil actinomycetes Streptomyces avermitilis (Römbke et al 2010). This substance is used worldwide to control the ecto and endoparasites (mites and nematodes) of livestock, protect animal health, enhance productivity and promote growth (Jensen et al 2009;Taylor et al 2009). Moreover, this antiparasitic is weakly metabolized and most of the dose given to the animals is excreted relatively unaltered in the faeces (Halley et al 1989).…”