Hazard identification of imidacloprid to aquatic environment

The use of a very effective insecticide against sucking pests, neonicotinoid imidacloprid, has been increasing extensively. For this reason elevated concentrations are expected in aquatic environment. Despite this fact, there is still a lack of data available on its possible risk for the environment. In this study, the potential hazards of imidacloprid and its commercial product Confidor SL 200 to aquatic environment were identified by the acute and chronic toxicity assessment using bacteria Vibrio fischeri, algae Desmodesmus subspicatus, crustacean Daphnia magna, fish Danio rerio and the ready biodegradability determination. We found out, that imidacloprid was not highly toxic to tested organisms in comparison to some other environmental pollutants tested in the same experimental set-up. Among the organisms tested, water flea D. magna proved to be the most sensitive species after a short-term (48 h EC50 = 56.6 mg L−1) and long-term exposure (21 d NOEC = 1.25 mg L−1). On the contrary, the intensified toxicity of Confidor SL 200 in comparison to analytical grade imidacloprid was observed in the case of algae and slight increase of its toxicity was detected testing daphnids and fish. The activities of cholinesterase, catalase and glutathione S-transferase of daphnids were not early biomarkers of exposure to imidacloprid and its commercial product. Imidacloprid was found persistent in water samples and not readily biodegradable in aquatic environment. Due to increased future predicted use of commercial products containing imidacloprid and the findings of this work, we recommend additional toxicity and biodegradability studies of other commercial products with imidacloprid as an active constituent.