Acute toxicity of butachlor and atrazine to freshwater green alga Scenedesmus obliquus and cladoceran Daphnia carinata

Both single and joint toxicity of atrazine and butachlor to freshwater green alga Scenedesmus obliquus and cladoceran Daphnia carinata isolated from South China were investigated in the present study. The 96 h-EC50 values of atrazine and butachlor to S. obliquus were 0.0147 and 2.31 mg L−1, while the 48 h-LC50 values to D. carinata were 60.6 and 3.40 mg L−1, respectively. These results suggest that atrazine could be highly toxic to S. obliquus and slightly toxic to D. carinata, while butachlor exhibits moderate toxicity to both organisms. The additive indexes of atrazine and butachlor mixtures were −2.68 (−3.02 to −2.32) to S. obliquus and 0.054 (−0.025 to 0.238) to D. carinata, respectively. Therefore, the joint action of two herbicides was significant antagonism to S. obliquus, while significant synergism was not shown to D. carinata. Moreover, significant linear correlation between the natural logarithm of herbicide concentrations and growth rates of alga S. obliquus was observed. Taken together, it is the first study reporting the toxicity endpoints for mixture of atrazine and butachlor against S. obliquus and D. carinata isolated from south China. The present results would be helpful to provide data to assess the ecological risk of both herbicides to aquatic organisms.

► Acute toxicity of atrazine and butachlor to two aquatic organisms were studied.
► Atrazine showed high toxicity to S. obliquus and slight toxicity to D. carinata.
► Butachlor showed moderate toxicity to both organisms.
► The joint action showed significant antagonism to S. obliquus.
► Linear correlation between Ln C and growth rates of S. obliquus was observed.