Life-History Traits Response to Effects of Fish Predation (Kairomones), Fipronil and 2,4-D on Neotropical Cladoceran Ceriodaphnia silvestrii

Aquatic environments are constantly exposed to a cocktail of contaminants mainly due to human activities. As polluted ecosystems may simultaneously present other multiple natural stressors, the objective of the present study was to evaluate joint effect of stressors (natural and anthropogenic) on life history traits of the Neotropical cladoceran, Ceriodaphnia silvestrii . For this purpose, the effects of water conditioned with predator kairomones (fish) and environmental concentrations (sublethal) of two pesticides widely used in sugarcane monoculture in Brazil, the insecticide Regent ® 800 WG (active ingredient—a.i. fipronil) and the herbicide DMA ® 806 BR (a.i. 2,4-D) were evaluated using chronic toxicity testing, isolated and in mixture, for this cladoceran species. The environmental risks of pesticides for tropical freshwater biota were also estimated from the risk quotient MEC/PNEC. Among the characteristics of the life history of C. silvestrii evaluated after 8 days of exposure, compared with the mean value of control, the age of primiparous females was not affected by any evaluated treatment. However, species average survival decreased in the treatment of kairomones mixed with fipronil (FK) and in the treatment with a mixture of fipronil, 2,4-D, and kairomones (MFKD). The body length of maternal females was shorter than in the control after exposure in treatments with only kairomones (K) and FK. Fecundity of this cladoceran was reduced when exposed to FK and MFKD treatments, and the intrinsic rate of population increase significantly decreased for organisms exposed to treatment with fipronil (F) and to mixtures of fipronil and 2,4-D (MFD), MFDK, and FK. The results indicated that the combination of anthropogenic and natural stressors causes changes in C. silvestrii life history traits, which can contribute to the decline in populations, and our preliminary risk assessment results are a matter of concern regarding biota conservation.