Earthworm tolerance to residual agricultural pesticide contamination: field and experimental assessment of detoxification capabilities

Nicolas Givaudan (1) , Françoise Binet (1) , Barbara Le Bot (2, 3) , Claudia Wiegand (1)

1 ECOBIO - Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution [Rennes]
2 Irset - Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail
3 EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP]

This study investigates if acclimatization to residual pesticide contamination in agricultural soils is reflected in detoxification, antioxidant enzyme activities and energy budget of earthworms. Five fields within a joint agricultural area exhibited different chemical and farming histories from conventional cultivation to organic pasture. Soil multiresidual pesticide analysis revealed up to 9 molecules including atrazine up to 2.4 ng g(-1) dry soil. Exposure history of endogeic Aporrectodea caliginosa and Allolobophora chlorotica modified their responses to pesticides. In the field, activities of soluble glutathione-S-transferases (sGST) and catalase increased with soil pesticide contamination in A. caliginosa. Pesticide stress was reflected in depletion of energy reserves in A. chlorotica. Acute exposure of pre-adapted and naïve A. caliginosa to pesticides (fungicide Opus(®), 0.1 μg active ingredient epoxiconazole g(-1) dry soil, RoundUp Flash(®), 2.5 μg active ingredient glyphosate g(-1) dry soil, and their mixture), revealed that environmental pre-exposure accelerated activation of the detoxification enzyme sGST towards epoxiconazole.

Mots clés: Biotransformation; Oxidative stress; Adaptation; Soil pesticide contamination; A. chlorotica; A. caliginosa

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Nicolas Givaudan, Françoise Binet, Barbara Le Bot, Claudia Wiegand. Earthworm tolerance to residual agricultural pesticide contamination: field and experimental assessment of detoxification capabilities. Environmental Pollution, 2014, 192, pp.9--18. ⟨10.1016/j.envpol.2014.05.001⟩. ⟨hal-01063923⟩