As agricultural expansion and intensification increase to meet the growing global food demand, so too will insecticide use and thus the risk of non-target effects. Insecticide pollution poses a particular threat to aquatic macroarthropods, which play important functional roles in freshwater ecosystems. Thus, understanding the relative toxicities of insecticides to non-target functional groups i...

The starting point of toxicity testing of any chemical in an organism is the determination of its Lethal Concentration 50 (LC50). In the present study, LC50 of a fluorinated insecticide cryolite is determined in a non-target insect model, Drosophila melanogaster. Interestingly, the result shows that acute LC50 of cryolite was much greater in comparison to the chronic one in case of Drosophila l...

Room-temperature ionic liquids (ILs) are being promoted as environmentally friendly alternatives to volatile organic solvents currently used by industry. Because ILs are novel and not yet in widespread use, their potential impact on aquatic organisms is unclear. We studied the effects of several ILs on the survivorship and behavior (movement and feeding rates) of the freshwater pulmonate snail,...

Application of organophosphorus (OP) insecticides to agricultural fields during the spring often overlaps the period of spawning, egg incubation, and larval stages of fish species such as walleye (Stizostedion vitreum). Because life stage can affect uptake, distribution, and effects of contaminants, our objective was to identify the most sensitive life stage of walleye tochlorpyrifos, a broad-s...

Water-distilled essential oil from the aerial parts of Dipsacus japonicus Miq. (Dipsacaceae) at the flowering stage was analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Forty-six compounds, accounting for 96.76% of the total oil, were identified and the main compounds of the essential oil were linalool (11.78%), trans-geraniol (8.58%), 1,8-cineole (7.91%), beta-caryophyllene (5.58%), a...

In a project investigating the ecotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), we have previously reported on the sublethal toxicity of eight PACs to springtails (Folsomia fimetaria) and enchytraeids (Enchytraeus crypticus). The model substances included four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and four N-S-O-heterocyclics. Here, new data are presented on the effects of PACs on the sur...

Purpose: To investigate the insecticidal activity of the essential oil of Cinnamomum cassis and its main constituent compound, trans-cinnamaldehyde, against the booklice, Liposcelis bostrychophila. Methods: Steam distillation of C. cassis twigs was carried out using a Clavenger apparatus in order to obtain the volatile oils. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) analyses (HP-5MS column)...

Acute semistatic toxicity tests were carried out for 96h with first zoeae and young crabs of Chasmagnathus granulata. Survival curves and LC50 (lethal concentration 50, the concentration which produces the death of 50% of the exposed population) indices for copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead were determined. Furthermore, mixture toxicity tests (Cd/Cu and Cd/Zn) with first-stage larvae were also ca...

The effects of cadmium, endosulfan, and atrazine on corticosterone secretion and viability of adrenal cells of African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) and bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) were assessed in vitro using a new bioassay. The bioassay relies on stimulation with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), the endogenous secretagogue for corticosterone secretion, and with dibutyryl cyclic adenosine mo...