Ecotoxicological effects on structure and function of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

210 Pages·2011·2.04 MB·English

UNIVERSITÁ DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA
Facoltà di scienze matematiche, Fisiche e Naturali

DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN SCIENZE AMBIENTALI
(XXIII Ciclo)

Ecotoxicological effects on structure and function
of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

Tutor: Prof. Marco Vighi
Revisore esterno: Prof. Antonio Di Guardo

Dottoranda:
Claudia Vaj

Anno accademico 2010/2011

“Nature is not only more complex than we think.
It is more complex than we can think”

Egler FE, The Way of Science. A philosophy
of Ecology for the Layman, 1970

Contents

CHAPTER I
General introduction
1.1 Traditional risk assessment procedures 1
1.2 The need for more “ecological realism” 4
1.3 Structure of the work 5
References 6

CHAPTER II
Site specific risk assessment for individual chemicals and mixture in an
agricultural river basin and intersection with ecotoxicological tests on
environmental samples
Abstract 9
2.1. Introduction 10
2.2. Materials and methods 11
2.2.1. Site description 11
2.2.2. Plant protection products applied 13
2.2.3. Exposure assessment procedures 17
2.2.4. Predicting risk for individual chemicals 19
2.2.5. Predicting risk for mixtures 21
2.2.6. Sampling scheme 22
2.2.7. Ecotoxicological tests with environmental samples 23
2.3. Results and discussion 23
2.3.1. Individual chemicals 23
2.3.2. Mixtures 31
2.3.3. Sediments 35
2.3.4. Ecotoxicological tests 36
2.3.4.1. Results for sediments 36
2.3.4.2. Results for water 37
2.4. Conclusions 39
References 40

CHAPER III
Theoretical risk assessment for soil compartment: site specific case of a
vineyard
Abstract 43
3.1. Introduction 44
3.2. Materials and methods 46
3.2.1. Site description 46
3.2.2. Plant protection products applied 47
I
3.2.3. Exposure assessment procedures 51
3.2.4. Effect characterization 54
3.2.5. Predicting risk for mixtures 55
3.3. Results and discussion 56
3.3.1. Risk assessment 56
3.3.2. Risk mapping 62
3.4. Conclusions 63
References 64

CHAPTER IV
Consideration on differences in risk assessment among different
compartments
Abstract 69
4.1. Introduction 70
4.2. Risk assessment for pollinators 71
4.3. Discussion 75
4.4. Conclusions 78
References 79

CHAPTER V
Year-round monitoring of soil microarthropod community under
pesticide application in a real case
Abstract 81
5.1. Introduction 82
5.2. Materials and methods 83
5.2.1. Sampling scheme 83
5.2.2. Microarthropods sampling and identification 86
5.2.3. Statistical analyses 87
5.2.4. Calculation of exposure 88
5.3. Results and discussion 93
5.3.1. Main trends in soil community 93
5.3.2. Principal Response Curves 103
5.3.3. Analysis of the community in relation to stressors 106
5.4. Conclusions 111
References 112

CHAPTER VI
Attempt to identify indirect effects of the application of pesticides on the
structure of the food web in microarthropod community
Abstract 115
6.1. Introduction 116
II
6.2. Materials and methods 117
6.2.1. Community and diet data used in the analysis 117
6.2.2. Calculation of trends 121
6.3. Results and discussion 121
6.4. Conclusions 126
References 127

CHAPTER VII
Trait-based approach applied on microarthropod communities affected
by pesticide applications
Abstract 129
7.1. Introduction 130
7.2. Material and methods 131
7.2.1. Microarthropod community used in the analysis 131
7.2.2. Trait collection for microarthropod community 133
7.2.3. Selection of significant traits 137
7.2.4. Focus on springtail and mite traits 138
7.2.5. Statistical methods: Community Weighted Means 139
7.3. Results and discussion 139
7.3.1. Trait based analysis of the whole community 139
7.3.2. Trait based analysis for Collembola 145
7.3.3. Trait based analysis for mites 149
7.3.4. Comparison with traditional trend analyses 151
7.4. Conclusions 152
References 153

CHAPTER VIII
Vulnerability analysis for microarthropod community
Abstract 155
8.1. Introduction 156
8.2. Materials and methods 157
8.2.1. Relationships between traits and vulnerability 157
8.2.2. Quantification of vulnerability 159
8.2.3. Vulnerability to a mixture of plant protection products 162
8.3. Results and discussion 163
8.3.1. Vulnerability to single chemicals 163
8.3.2. Vulnerability to a mixture 172
8.3.3. Comparison with trait-based approach results 173
8.4. Conclusions 174
References 175

III
CHAPTER IX
General conclusions 177
References 179

Appendix A. Taxa abbreviations 181
Appendix B. Trait matrix 183
Appendix C. Trait categories abbreviations 193
Appendix D. Scores assigned to traits for the quantification
of vulnerability 195
D.1. Traits with changing values according to chemical 195
D.2. Traits with not changing values according to chemical 196

IV