Ecological risk assessment of pesticides in the Mijares River (eastern Spain) impacted by citrus production using wide-scope screening and target quantitative analysis

Occurrence and risk assessment of pesticides and their transformation products related to olive groves in surface waters of the Guadalquivir river basin

Pesticides are considered one of the main sources of contamination of surface waters, especially in rural areas highly influenced by traditional agricultural practices. The objective of this work was to evaluate the impact caused by pesticides and their transformation products (TPs) related to olive groves in surface waters with strong agricultural pressure. 11 streams were monitored during four sampling campaigns over 2 years. A solid-phase extraction, followed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) analysis was used in the quantitative target approach, with more than 70 validated compounds. Target method was combined with a suspect screening strategy involving more than 500 pesticides and TPs, using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) to identify additional pesticides and TPs out of the scope of analysis. A total of 43 different compounds were detected with the target method. The herbicide MCPA was present in all samples and at the highest concentration (1260 ng L-1), followed by the fungicide carbendazim (1110 ng L-1), and the herbicide chlorotoluron (706 ng L-1). The suspect screening strategy revealed the presence of 7 compounds out of the target analysis (1 pesticide and 6 TPs). 6 analytes were confirmed with the analytical standards. Semi-quantification results revealed that TPs exhibited higher concentrations than their corresponding parent compounds, indicating higher persistency. Some small streams showed a comparable number of pesticides and concentrations to the most polluted large river. The determined pesticide and TPs concentrations represented an estimated environmental hazard in almost all sampling sites under study. This work underscores the importance of including pesticide TPs and small streams impacted by extensive agricultural activities in water quality monitoring programs.

Antifungal drugs in the aquatic environment: A review on sources, occurrence, toxicity, health effects, removal strategies and future challenges

Fungal infections pose a significant global health burden, resulting in millions of severe cases and deaths annually. The escalating demand for effective antifungal treatments has led to a rise in the wholesale distribution of antifungal drugs, which consequently has led to their release into the environment, posing a threat to ecosystems and human health. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the presence and distribution of antifungal drugs in the environment, evaluate their potential ecological and health risks, and assess current methods for their removal. Reviewed studies from 2010 to 2023 period have revealed the widespread occurrence of 19 various antifungals in natural waters and other matrices at alarmingly high concentrations. Due to the inefficiency of conventional water treatment in removing these compounds, advanced oxidation processes, membrane filtration, and adsorption techniques have been developed as promising decontamination methods.In conclusion, this review emphasizes the urgent need for a comprehensive understanding of the presence, fate, and removal of antifungal drugs in the environment. By addressing the current knowledge gaps and exploring future prospects, this study contributes to the development of strategies for mitigating the environmental impact of antifungal drugs and protecting ecosystems and human health.

Determination of pesticide residue in marginal lagoons of natural parks in Brazil using an improved calibrate passive sampler

Passive sampling is a sensitive and efficient method for analyzing pesticides in water. This article describes a hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME) device that was improved using polypropylene membranes grafted with nanocellulose for the passive sampling of pesticides in water. A comprehensive gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC/Q-TOFMS) system was used to separate, identify, and quantify pesticides. The sampling rates of 38 moderately hydrophobic to hydrophobic agricultural pesticides (2.18 < log Kow < 6.89) from different chemical classes, including the main triazine, organochlorine and organophosphate compounds, were calculated. A calibration process was applied to evaluate the role of flow velocity and select potential candidates for a possible performance reference compound (PRC). Sampling rates varied between 0.17 mL d-1 and 23.15 mL d-1. The accumulation curves identified linear periods ranging from 3 to 18 days. The new passive sampler device was applied for 8 days in rivers and marginal lagoons of natural parks of the São Francisco basin in Minas Gerais, Brazil and identified 10 target pesticides. Furthermore, 10 non-targeted pesticides were detected by the GCxGC/Q-TOFMS method.

Predictionof Environmental FateandToxicityofInsecticidesUsing Multi-Target QSAR Approach

Ecotoxicological risk assessments form the foundation of regulatory decisions for industrial chemicals used in various sectors. In this study, a multi-target-QSAR model established by a backpropagation neural network trained with the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm was used to construct a statistically robust and easily interpretable Mt-QSAR model with high external predictability for the simultaneous prediction of the environmental fate in form of octanol-water partition coefficient (LogP), (BCF) and acute oral toxicity in mammals and birds (LD50rat ) and (LD50bird ) for a wide range of chemical structural classes of insecticides. Principal component analysis was performed on descriptors selected by the SW-MLR method, and the selected PCs were used for constructing the SW-MLR-PCA-ANN model. The developed well-trained model (RMSE=0.83, MPE=0.004, CCC=0.82, IIC=0.78, R2 =0.69) was statistically robust as indicated by the external validation parameters (RMSE=0.93, MPE=0.008, CCC=0.77, IIC=0.68, R2 =0.61). The AD of the developed Mt-QSAR model was also defined to identify the most reliable predictions. Finally, the missing values in the dataset for the aforementioned targets were predicted using the constructed Mt-QSAR model. The proposed approach can be used for simultaneous prediction of the environmental fate of new insecticides, especially ones that haven't been tested yet.

Epilithic biofilms, POCIS, and water samples as complementary sources of information for a more comprehensive view of aquatic contamination by pesticides and pharmaceuticals in southern Brazil

Spatial-temporal monitoring of the presence of pesticides and pharmaceuticals in water requires rigor in the choice of matrix to be analyzed. The use of matrices, isolated or combined, may better represent the real state of contamination. In this sense, the present work contrasted the effectiveness of using epilithic biofilms with active water sampling and with a passive sampler-POCIS. A watershed representative of South American agriculture was monitored. Nine sites with different rural anthropic pressures (natural forest, intensive use of pesticides, and animal waste), and urban areas without sewage treatment, were monitored. Water and epilithic biofilms were collected during periods of intensive pesticide and animal waste application. After the harvest of the spring/summer crop, a period of low agrochemical input, the presence of pesticides and pharmaceuticals was monitored using the POCIS and epilithic biofilms. The spot water sampling leads to underestimation of the level of contamination of water resources as it does not allow discrimination of different anthropic pressures in rural areas. The use of endogenous epilithic biofilms as a matrix for the analysis of pesticides and pharmaceuticals is a viable and highly recommended alternative to diagnose the health of water sources, especially if associated with the use of POCIS.

Mepanipyrim induces visual developmental toxicity and vision-guided behavioral alteration in zebrafish larvae

Mepanipyrim, an anilinopyrimidine fungicide, has been extensively used to prevent fungal diseases in fruit culture. Currently, research on mepanipyrim-induced toxicity in organisms is still very scarce, especially visual developmental toxicity. Here, zebrafish larvae were employed to investigate mepanipyrim-induced visual developmental toxicity. Intense light and monochromatic light stimuli-evoked escape experiments were used to investigate vision-guided behaviors. Meanwhile, transcriptomic sequencing and real-time quantitative PCR assays were applied to assess the potential mechanisms of mepanipyrim-induced visual developmental toxicity and vision-guided behavioral alteration. Our results showed that mepanipyrim exposure could induce retinal impairment and vision-guided behavioral alteration in larval zebrafish. In addition, the grk1b gene of the phototransduction signaling pathway was found to be a potential aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-regulated gene. Mepanipyrim-induced visual developmental toxicity was potentially related to the AhR signaling pathway. Furthermore, mepanipyrim-induced behavioral alteration was guided by the visual function, and the effects of mepanipyrim on long and middle wavelength light-sensitive opsins may be the main cause of vision-guided behavioral alteration. Our results provide insights into understanding the relationship between visual development and vision-guided behaviors induced by mepanipyrim exposure.

Two constructed wetlands within a Mediterranean natural park immersed in an agrolandscape reduce most heavy metal water concentrations and dampen the majority of pesticide presence

The water concentrations of 12 heavy and other metals/metalloids were analyzed seasonally along two horizontal-flow constructed wetlands (CWs) (Tancat Mília-TM and Tancat l'Illa-TLI) located within the Mediterranean Albufera de València Natural Park during 2020-2021. A wide-scope screening of pesticides present in waters was also performed. The two CWs were created to improve water quality and increase biodiversity. They currently receive effluent waters from two different tertiary-treatment wastewater plants, and the water flows along the CWs before being discharged into the main lagoon and a smaller lagoon in TM and TLI, respectively. TLI manages to reduce (Mn) or maintain the concentration of most of the studied elements (Zn, Ni, Hg, Cr, Fe Cd, Cu) at the same level as outside (67%). Only Al, Pb, B, and As remain at a higher concentration. TM also reduces Zn and Cu and keeps the concentration of Cr, Cd, and Hg (representing 42%). Al, Pb, B, and As remain at higher concentrations, as in TLI, but Ni, Fe, and Mn are also at higher concentrations. Although both CWs vary in their ability to remove elements, no risks to human health or the environment have been detected due to the low metal concentration in their outlets, all of them (except Hg) below the legal limits for environmental quality in the European Union. With the detection of 71 compounds in water in each CW area (26 herbicides, 26 insecticides, and 19 fungicides in TLI, and 29 herbicides, 23 insecticides, and 19 fungicides in TM), we also provide evidence of the impact of pesticides, which depends on the application method (helicopter, tractor), originated from areas with high agricultural pressure (chiefly rice crops) on systems (mainly TM) created to preserve biodiversity. Nevertheless, both systems provide crucial environmental services in water quality in this agrolandscape.

Benefits of Ion Mobility Separation in GC-APCI-HRMS Screening: From the Construction of a CCS Library to the Application to Real-World Samples

The performance of gas chromatography (GC) combined with the improved identification properties of ion mobility separation coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (IMS-HRMS) is presented as a promising approach for the monitoring of (semi)volatile compounds in complex matrices. The soft ionization promoted by an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source designed for GC preserves the molecular and/or quasi-molecular ion information enabling a rapid, sensitive, and efficient wide-scope screening. Additionally, ion mobility separation (IMS) separates species of interest from coeluting matrix interferences and/or resolves isomers based on their charge, shape, and size, making IMS-derived collision cross section (CCS) a robust and matrix-independent parameter comparable between instruments. In this way, GC-APCI-IMS-HRMS becomes a powerful approach for both target and suspect screening due to the improvements in (tentative) identifications. In this work, mobility data for 264 relevant multiclass organic pollutants in environmental and food-safety fields were collected by coupling GC-APCI with IMS-HRMS, generating CCS information for molecular ion and/or protonated molecules and some in-source fragments. The identification power of GC-APCI-IMS-HRMS for the studied compounds was assessed in complex-matrix samples, including fish feed extracts, surface waters, and different fruit and vegetable samples.

Overarching issues on relevant pesticide transformation products in the aquatic environment: A review

The intensification of agricultural production during the last decades has forced the rapid increase in the use of pesticides that finally end up in the aquatic environment. Albeit well-documented, pesticides continue to raise researchers' attention, because of their potential adverse impacts on the environment and, inevitably, humans. Once entering the aquatic bodies, pesticides undergo biotic and abiotic processes, resulting in transformation products (TPs) that sometimes are even more toxic than the parent compounds. A substantial shift of the scientific interest in the TPs of pesticides has been observed since their environmental fate, occurrence and toxicity is still in its formative stage. In an ongoing effort to expand the existing knowledge on the topic, several interesting works have been performed mostly in European countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, and Spain that counts the highest number of relevant publications. Pesticide TPs have been also studied to a lesser extent in Asia, North and South America. To this end, the main objective of this review is to delineate the global occurrence, fate, toxicity as well as the analytical challenges related to pesticide TPs in surface, ground, and wastewaters, with the view to contribute to a better understanding of the environmental problems related with TPs formation. The concentration levels of the TPs, ranging from the low ng/L to high μg/L scale and distributed worldwide. Ultimately, an attempt to predict the acute and chronic toxicity of TPs has been carried out with the aid of an in-silico approach based on ECOSAR, revealing increased chronic toxicity for the majority of the identified TPs, despite the change they underwent, while a small portion of them presented serious acute toxicity values.

Removal efficiency for emerging contaminants in a WWTP from Madrid (Spain) after secondary and tertiary treatment and environmental impact on the Manzanares River

The effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can be an important contamination source for receiving waters. In this work, a comprehensive study on the impact of a WWTP from Madrid on the aquatic environment has been performed, including a wide number of pharmaceuticals and pesticides, among them those included in the European Watch List. 24-h composite samples of influent (IWW) and effluent wastewater after secondary (EWW2) and after secondary + tertiary treatment (EWW3) were monitored along two campaigns. Average weekly concentrations in IWW and EWW2 and EWW3 allowed estimating the removal efficiency of the WWTP for pharmaceutical active substances (PhACs). In addition, the impact of EWW3 on the water quality of the Manzanares River was assessed, in terms of PhAC and pesticide concentrations, through analysis of the river water collected upstream and downstream of the discharge point. After a preliminary risk assessment, a detailed evaluation of the impact on the aquatic environment, including a toxicological study and screening of pharmaceutical metabolites, was made for the seven most relevant PhACs: sulfamethoxazole, azithromycin and clarithromycin (antibiotics), metoprolol (antihypertensive), diclofenac (anti-inflammatory/analgesic), irbesartan (antihypertensive), and the antidepressant venlafaxine. Among selected PhACs, irbesartan, clarithromycin and venlafaxine presented moderate or high risk in the river water downstream of the discharge. Albeit no acute toxicity was detected, more detailed studies should be carried out for these substances, including additional toxicological studies, to set up potential sublethal and chronic effects on aquatic organisms.

Assessment of Environmental Pollution and Human Exposure to Pesticides by Wastewater Analysis in a Seven-Year Study in Athens, Greece

Pesticides have been used in large amounts around the world for decades and are responsible for environmental pollution and various adverse effects on human health. Analysis of untreated wastewater can deliver useful information on pesticides’ use in a particular area and allow the assessment of human exposure to certain substances. A wide-scope screening method, based on liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry, was applied, using both target and suspect screening methodologies. Daily composite influent wastewater samples were collected for seven or eight consecutive days in Athens between 2014 and 2020 and analyzed for 756 pesticides, their environmental transformation products and their human metabolites. Forty pesticides were quantified at mean concentrations up to 4.9 µg/L (tralkoxydim). The most abundant class was fungicides followed by herbicides, insect repellents, insecticides and plant growth regulators. In addition, pesticide transformation products and/or metabolites were detected with high frequency, indicating that research should be focused on them. Human exposure was evaluated using the wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) approach and 3-ethyl-carbamoyl benzoic acid and cis-1,2,3,6-tetrahydrophthalimide were proposed as potential WBE biomarkers. Wastewater analysis revealed the presence of unapproved pesticides and indicated that there is an urgent need to include more transformation products in target databases.