Survival and precopulatory guarding behavior of Hyalella azteca (Amphipoda) exposed to nitrate in the presence of atrazine

Nitrate is one of the most commonly detected contaminants found in aquatic systems with other pesticides such as atrazine. The current study examined potential combined effects of nitrate and atrazine on adults of the freshwater amphipod Hyalella azteca, using survival and precopulatory guarding behavior as toxic endpoints. Although significant differences in acute toxicity with nitrate alone and in binary combination with atrazine (200 µg/L) in water‐only tests were not consistently observed for each time point, potential biologically relevant trends in the data were observed. Posttest growth and behavioral observations (10‐day period) conducted after 96‐hour exposure suggested that atrazine and nitrate at these concentrations did not result in delayed effects on H. azteca. However, when test conditions were modified from standard toxicity tests by feeding amphipods, nitrate was found to be more toxic, with a reduction in median lethal concentration (LC50) values of approximately 80%. We also demonstrated that nitrate exhibits a dose–response effect on precopulatory guarding behavior of H. azteca, suggesting that reproductive effects may occur at environmentally relevant concentrations. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2011; 30:1170–1177. © 2011 SETAC