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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Ecotoxicology
DO PHARMACEUTICALS HAVE ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS? THE EFFECTS OF THREE MEDICATIONS ON DAPHNIA.
C.M. Flaherty, D.R. Kashian, and S.I. Dodson. Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
Pharmaceuticals have been discovered in sewage effluent, ground, surface, and even tap water. This research investigated sub-lethal effects of several heavily used pharmaceuticals on a common, freshwater zooplankton. Sulfamethoxazole, fluoxetine, and clofibric acid affected normal life developmental processes such as growth, fecundity, and sex differentiation of Daphnia magna, at ambient concentrations (one to 100 μg/L). Short-term assays (six days) were performed to examine effects on an adult female D. magna and her offspring. Fluoxetine-exposed (36 μg/L) females produced offspring with significant morphological deformities (p<0.001). A replicate assay revealed the same incidence of deformities (p<0.001), which led to a decrease in overall fecundity (p<0.005). Exposure to clofibric acid (10 μg/L) during a short-term assay increased the proportion of males compared to control D. magna (p<0.001). Long-term assays (30 days) examined effects on D. magna growth, fecundity, and offspring sex over its entire lifespan. D. magna exposed to sulfamethoxazole (100 μg/L) lived significantly longer than control counterparts (p<0.005). D. magna exposed to fluoxetine (36 μg/L) in long-term assays elicited an increase in overall fecundity (p<0.001) and an increase in individual clutch size (p<0.005). Pharmaceuticals indeed have significant ecological effects on non-target aquatic organisms.
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