Toxicity and hazard ranking of <i>s</i>-triazine herbicides using microtox® two green algal species and a marine crustacean

Abstract

Abstract The acute toxicities of five s-triazines (atrazine, prometryn, simetryn, ametryn, terbutryn) were measured using two algae (one freshwater species, Selenastrum capricornutum, and one marine species, Dunaliella tertiolecta), Microtoxr̀ bacteria, and the brine shrimp, Artemia salma. The algae were one to three orders of magnitude more susceptible to tested compounds than were bacteria or brine shrimp. The transformation of effective concentrations of the chemicals, obtained from toxicity measurements, into percent of the saturation level in water is proposed as a first evaluation of potential hazard to aquatic systems. Simetryn was found to be the most hazardous s-triazine for all species tested.