PARENT SESSION

Interactive Poster Session: Soil Ecotoxicology
Hall 18
8:35 AM - 12:30 PM, Tuesday, 29 April 2003
Chair: Römbke, J.¹, ¹
Co-chair: Eisenträger, A.², ²

(TU18/4) Avoidance response on Porcellionides pruinosos (Isopoda) to carbaril: Laboratory vs. In Situ tests.

Rodrigues, José¹, Niemeyer, Júlia², Stringuetti, Carla², Silva, Eduardo², ¹ Departamento de Biologia. Universidade de Aveiro., Aveiro., Aveiro., Portugal² Instituto de Biologia. Universidade Federal da Bahia., Salvador., Salvador., Brasil

ABSTRACT- To keep the quality of soil, integrity and fertility, it is necessary to protect the biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems. When soil organisms such as isopods are adversely affected by exposure to chemicals, they are less able to perform their beneficial and essential functions in the soil ecosystem. Isopods have an important role in decomposition process and nutrients cycle. The principal aim of this work was to research the comportment of Porcellionides pruinosus when exposed to Carbaril. The avoidance tests were carried out in laboratory and in situ, using boxes having a of size 40x30 cm, divided in 12 compartments, with observations at 2, 4, 6, 24 and 48 hours. 25 individuals were placed into each box. In those boxes, four concentrations of Carbaril were used distributed randomly. The results showed that the mortality of the isopods was 100% at the highest concentration. Moreover, about 70% of the isopods showed a tendency to choose soil not contaminated either in the laboratory an in situ, showing that this may be a behavior response in order to avoid the chemical. A Porcellionides pruinosos avoidance test has potential advantages for use in evaluation of hazardous waste sites. Because organisms often exhibit behavioral responses at lower of stress than those that acute toxicity tests are able to detect avoidance tests could provide increased sensitivity to hazardous chemicals. The overall results demonstrated that the terrestrial isopod Porcellionides pruinosos has the potential to be used in evaluation of soil contamination in risk assessment.

Key words: carbaril, Avoidance tests, Porcellionides pruinosus, Terrestrial isopod