Effects of Organic Herbicides on Phototrophic Microbial Communities in Freshwater Ecosystems - Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology - page 87

Effects of Organic Herbicides on Phototrophic
Microbial Communities in Freshwater
Ecosystems

Stéphane Pesce, Agnès Bouchez, and Bernard Montuelle

Contents
1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 87

2 Experimental Studies ........................................................................................................ 88

2.1 Effects of Single Herbicides .................................................................................... 88

2.2 Effects of Herbicide Mixtures.................................................................................. 108

3 Field Studies...................................................................................................................... 111

3.1 Effect of In Situ Exposure on Community Structure and Primary Production ............ 111

3.2 PICT Approaches..................................................................................................... 112

3.3 Recovery Studies ..................................................................................................... 113

4 Potential Future Areas for Research ................................................................................. 113

4.1 Improving Exposure Assessments ........................................................................... 114

4.2 Improving Assessment of Biological Effects .......................................................... 115

4.3 Ecosystem Recovery ................................................................................................ 116

5 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 117

References............................................................................................................................... 118

1 Introduction

Pollution of aquatic ecosystems by pesticide contamination is a major environmental
concern. Numerous authors have addressed the frequent occurrence of chronic or
acute herbicide contamination of freshwater ecosystems in both agricultural and
urban areas of the world (Devault et al. 2007 ; Gilliom 2007 ; Schuler and Rand
2008 ; Woudneh et al. 2009 ). The physiological characteristics of photosynthetic
microorganisms make them attractive as targets for herbicides in aquatic ecosys-
tems. Since these primary producers form the basis of trophic structure in many
aquatic environments, herbicides may threaten the entire equilibrium of the ecosys-
tems they contaminate .