Disturbances in energy metabolism of Daphnia magna after exposure to tebuconazole

This study was conducted to investigate the change of some biochemical parameters in the aquatic invertebrate Daphnia magna following exposure to the fungicide tebuconazole and to determine the most sensitive biomarker among the ones tested in this species. Four biochemical biomarkers (protein, glycogen, lipids and caloric content) were correlated with feeding behaviour studies of D. magna after fungicide exposure. Juveniles of D. magna were exposed to four sublethal concentrations of tebuconazole (0.41, 0.52, 0.71 and 1.14 mg L−1) for 5 d. Daphnid samples were taken from each test and control group at 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 h after the start of the experiment. Tebuconazole EC50 values were calculated on D. magna in our laboratory as 56.83 and 40.10 mg L−1 at 24 and 48 h, respectively. Results showed that daphnid energy content decreased as tebuconazole concentration increased, especially after 96–120 h of exposure to 0.52 mg L−1 and higher fungicide concentrations. The data suggest that tebuconazole is moderately toxic to D. magna but also that it seriously impairs the metabolic functions, resulting in alterations in biochemical constituents. In the D. magna feeding study, algae feeding rates were inhibited after fungicide exposure. Such findings indicate the importance of feeding studies in laboratory toxicity test as well as their relationship with others studies. The results emphasize the importance of considering different kind of biomarkers to identify and evaluate the biological effect of a fungicide in the aquatic environment. Although the biochemical biomarkers used resultated good indicators of tebuconazole toxicity, feeding rates in D. magna decreased after only 5 h exposure to the fungicide resulting in the most sensitive parameter of daphnid fungicide exposure.