Differences in susceptibility of five cladoceran species to two systemic insecticides, imidacloprid and fipronil.

Differences in susceptibility of five cladocerans to the neonicotinoid imidacloprid and the phenyl-pyrazole fipronil, which have been dominantly used in rice fields of Japan in recent years, were examined based on short-term (48-h), semi-static acute immobilization exposure tests. Additionally, we compared the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) patterns of both insecticides between two sets of species: the five tested cladocerans and all other aquatic organisms tested so far, using data from the ECOTOX database of U.S.

Differences in ecological impacts of systemic insecticides with different physicochemical properties on biocenosis of experimental paddy fields.

The environmental risks of pesticides are typically determined by laboratory single-species tests based on OECD test guidelines, even if biodiversity should also be taken into consideration. To evaluate how realistic these assessments are, ecological changes caused by the systemic insecticides imidacloprid and fipronil, which have different physicochemical properties, when applied at recommended commercial rates on rice fields were monitored using experimental paddy mesocosms. A total of 178 species were observed.