The influence of a season of extreme wet weather events on exposure of the World Heritage Area Great Barrier Reef to pesticides

Kennedy, Karen; Devlin, Michelle; Bentley, Christie; Lee-Chue, Kristie; Paxman, C.; Carter, Steve; Lewis, Stephen E.; Brodie, Jon; Guy, Ellia; Vardy, Suzanne; Martin, Katherine; Jones, Alison; Packett, Robert; Mueller, Jochen F.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.05.014

Cited by 37 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Work has built on assessments of a single GBR region, the Tully River in the Wet Tropics (Figure 2), over a 20-year time frame [32], to reporting wet season water quality over multiple catchments over multi-annual time frames [34,38]. Data collected under the MMP has also provided a key contribution to several research and monitoring projects [20,[28][29][30]38,39,[49][50][51][52], the continued validation required in the development of regionally based RS algorithms [36,37] and products [28,29,53,54] for the GBR, and for the validation of outputs generated by hydrodynamic models [53].…”

Section: In Situ Water Quality Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring Program (P2R Program) [18] has been designed to support this evaluation and includes indicators of the adoption of improved land management practices, catchment condition, end of catchment pollutant load estimates, and marine water quality and ecosystem health. The marine component, known as the Marine Monitoring Program (herein referred to as the MMP), includes ambient and wet season water quality measurements, and inshore coral and seagrass health monitoring [13,[19][20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The onset and duration of river plumes into the GBR has been reported over several decades [20,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] and monitoring of river plumes [31] now forms an integral component of the MMP. However, it has been difficult to evaluate the complex responses of the seagrass and coral communities to changing water quality based on in situ water quality data only due to the limitations of the monitoring time frames and the uncertainty associated with the time lag between exposure and impact.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Water Quality and River Plume Monitoring in the Great Barrier Reef: An Overview of Methods Based on Ocean Colour Satellite Data

et al. 2015

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A strong driver of water quality change in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the pulsed or intermittent nature of terrestrial inputs into the GBR lagoon, including delivery of increased loads of sediments, nutrients, and toxicants via flood river plumes (hereafter river plumes) during the wet season. Cumulative pressures from extreme weather with a high frequency of large scale flooding in recent years has been linked to the large scale reported decline in the health of inshore seagrass systems and coral reefs in the central areas of the GBR, with concerns for the recovery potential of these impacted ecosystems. Management authorities currently rely on remotely-sensed (RS) and in situ data for water quality monitoring to guide their assessment of water quality conditions in the GBR. The use of remotely-sensed satellite products provides a quantitative and accessible tool for scientists and managers. These products, coupled with in situ data, and more recently modelled data, are valuable for quantifying the influence of river plumes on seagrass and coral reef habitat in the GBR. This article reviews recent remote sensing techniques developed to monitor river plumes and water quality in the GBR. We also discuss emerging research that integrates hydrodynamic models with remote sensing and in situ OPEN ACCESS Remote Sens. 2015, 7 12910 data, enabling us to explore impacts of different catchment management strategies on GBR water quality.

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Section: In Situ Water Quality Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Water Quality and River Plume Monitoring in the Great Barrier Reef: An Overview of Methods Based on Ocean Colour Satellite Data

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“…42 However, many monitoring programs are limited by costs associated with sampling and 43 laboratory methods; depending on the monitoring aims, a tradeoff is often made between 44 sampling frequency, spatial coverage and analytical cost 6 . Sampling within tropical areas is 45 further complicated by the variable local weather profiles (i.e. rain driven ephemeral flows), 46 extreme weather events and remote locations, that when combined with monitoring 47 limitations has resulted in limited data available on pesticide concentrations in tropical areas 48 compared to the data available from temperate areas.…”

Section: Introduction 39mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Average 277 concentrations of atrazine and diuron measured using both the grab and Chemcatcher in at least one sample collected across the fresh (Table 4) or estuarine sites (Table 5) using 292 either grab or passive methods. Table 6 additional contaminants (including 17 pesticides and two breakdown products) that were not 325 previously reported in Barratta Creek or within the wider GBR catchment area 13,16,[18][19][20][44][45][46] 326 and as such has highlighted that a wide range of pesticide products are used upstream and 327 are largely sourced to cropping lands (particularly sugarcane). Our results also demonstrate 328 that, while both grab and passive sampling methods offer a few (grab) or many (PSD) 329 additional chemicals not detected by the other method, both methods effectively capture the 330 five priority herbicides which pose the most risk to the GBR.…”

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confidence: 99%

Spatial and Temporal Variability in Pesticide Exposure Downstream of a Heavily Irrigated Cropping Area: Application of Different Monitoring Techniques

O’Brien

Lewis

Davis

et al. 2016

J. Agric. Food Chem.

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23Pesticide exposure threatens many freshwater and estuarine ecosystems around the world. 24This study examined the temporal and spatial trends of pesticide concentrations in a 25 waterway within an agriculturally developed dry-tropics catchment using a combination of 26 grab and passive sampling methods over a continuous two year monitoring program. A total 27 of 43 pesticide residues were detected with seven pesticides exceeding ecologically relevant 28 water quality guidelines/trigger values during the study period and four (ametryn, atrazine, 29 diuron and metolachlor) of these exceeding guidelines for several months. The presence and 30 concentration of the pesticides in the stream coincided with seasonal variability in rainfall, 31 harvest timing/cropping cycle and management changes. Our sampling approach 32demonstrates that the application of these complementary sampling techniques (both grab 33 and passive sampling) were effective to establish pesticide usage patterns in upstream 34 locations where application data are unavailable. 35

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Using species sensitivity distribution approach to assess the risks of commonly detected agricultural pesticides to Australia's tropical freshwater ecosystems

Pathiratne

Kroon

2015

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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To assess the potential impacts of agricultural pesticides on tropical freshwater ecosystems, the present study developed temperature-specific, freshwater species protection concentrations (i.e., ecotoxicity threshold values) for 8 pesticides commonly detected in Australia's tropical freshwaters. Because relevant toxicity data for native tropical freshwater species to assess the ecological risks were mostly absent, scientifically robust toxicity data obtained at ≥20 °C were used for ecologically relevant taxonomic groups representing primary producers and consumers. Species sensitivity distribution (SSD) curves were subsequently generated for predicted chronic exposure using Burrlioz 2.0 software with mixed chronic and converted acute data relevant to exposure conditions at ≥20 °C. Ecotoxicity threshold values for tropical freshwater ecosystem protection were generated for ametryn, atrazine, diuron, metolachlor, and imidacloprid (all moderate reliability), as well as simazine, hexazinone, and tebuthiuron (all low reliability). Using these SSD curves, the retrospective risk assessments for recently reported pesticide concentrations highlight that the herbicides ametryn, atrazine, and diuron are of major concern for ecological health in Australia's tropical freshwater ecosystems. The insecticide imidacloprid also appears to pose an emerging threat to the most sensitive species in tropical freshwater ecosystems. The exposed temperature-specific approach may be applied to develop water quality guideline values for other environmental contaminants detected in tropical freshwater ecosystems until reliable and relevant toxicity data are generated using representative native species.

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The influence of a season of extreme wet weather events on exposure of the World Heritage Area Great Barrier Reef to pesticides

Cited by 37 publications

References 43 publications

Water Quality and River Plume Monitoring in the Great Barrier Reef: An Overview of Methods Based on Ocean Colour Satellite Data

Water Quality and River Plume Monitoring in the Great Barrier Reef: An Overview of Methods Based on Ocean Colour Satellite Data

Spatial and Temporal Variability in Pesticide Exposure Downstream of a Heavily Irrigated Cropping Area: Application of Different Monitoring Techniques

Using species sensitivity distribution approach to assess the risks of commonly detected agricultural pesticides to Australia's tropical freshwater ecosystems

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