The exposure and toxicity of pesticides to amphibians

Amphibians and pesticides
Pesticide Species Amphibian Mallard Quail Mouse Rat Reference
TEPA Rana
500 8.54 >20.0 Hudson et al
catesbeiana
(1984)
TEPP Bufo viridis 540 0.52 Edery and
Schatzberg-
Porath (1960)
TEPP Rana
112 3.56 Hudson et al
catesbeiana
TEPP Rana
ridibunda
(1984)
34 0.52 Edery and
Schatzberg-
Porath (1960)
This data indicates that in most cases amphibians were less sensitive than birds and mammals with the
exceptions of tests with nabam and strychnine.
3.3. Conclusions on toxicity data
A large number of toxicity values were found for aquatic stages of amphibians suitable for comparison
with fish data. A far smaller body of data was found for toxicity of pesticides to terrestrial phases both
in numbers of values and range of compounds making comparisons with bird and mammal data more
difficult.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• More research on the fine scale use of agricultural land at the times of greatest exposure risk
would help improve predictions of the potential of exposure of amphibians, which species are
at greatest risk and which applications present the greatest threat.
• The data on aquatic toxicity identified in the course of the study should be used to refine the
use of current aquatic risk assessments if necessary so that they are sufficiently protective of
amphibians.
• If risk assessments are to be conducted for terrestrial amphibians, methods must be developed
that will estimate the extent of dermal exposure under field conditions. However, estimating
dermal exposure and exposure through food will not allow full risk assessment in the absence
of reliable amphibian or suitable surrogate toxicity data.
REFERENCES
Abbasi SA and Soni R, 1991. Evaluation of water quality criteria for four common pesticides on the
basis of computer-aided studies, Indian Journal of Environmental Health, 33(1), 22-24
Agostini GM, Natale GS and Ronco AE, 2010. Lethal and sublethal effects of cypermethrin to
Hypsiboas pulchellus tadpoles, Ecotoxicology 19(8), 1545-1550.
Alam MDN, 1989. Toxicity of Metacid and Ekalux to tadpoles of skipper frog Rana cyanophlyctis,
Journal of Ecobiology 1(3), 163-167.
Alam MN and Shafi M, 1991. Toxicity of two agricultural chemicals Metacid 50 and Ekalux EC 25 to
tadpoles of Rana tigrina, Environment and Ecology, 9(4), 870-872.
Supporting publications 2012:EN-343 100
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