Ecological Risk Assessment in a Tasmanian Agricultural Catchment
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ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT IN A TASMANIAN AGRICULTURAL CATCHMENT Rachel Walker B.Agr.Sc. (Hons.) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania (May, 2001) TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION I ABSTRACT II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III THESIS FORMAT IV PROJECT BACKGROUND 1 CHAPTER 1 . INTRODUCTION 1 BROAD OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT 1 DEFINITION OF RISK ASSESSMENT 2 THE ORIGINS OF RISK ASSESSMENT 2 ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 3 THE CONCEPT OF UNCERTAINTY IN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT 3 ADVANTAGES OF ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 4 STRUCTURE OF ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT 5 PESTICIDES RISK ASSESSMENT 9 ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT IN THIS PROJECT 10 CHAPTER 2 . THE MOUNTAIN RIVER CATCHMENT: REGIONAL DESCRIPTION 11 PROJECT LOCATION 11 PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC CHARACTERISTICS OF MOUNTAIN RIVER CATCHMENT 14 REGIONAL BACKGROUND 15 PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS AND RESEARCH BACKGROUND 17 CHAPTER 3 . ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN MOUNTAIN RIVER CATCHMENT 17 INTRODUCTION 18 PROBLEM FORMULATION 20 RISK ANALYSIS USING THE RELATIVE RISK MODEL 29 RISK CHARACTERIZATION 36 DISCUSSION 42 CHAPTER 4 . TIER 1 RISK ASSESSMENT FOR APPLE PESTICIDES 44 INTRODUCTION 45 METHODS 46 RESULTS 51 DISCUSSION 55 CHAPTER 5 . PROBLEM FORMULATION FOR CHLORPYRIFOS RISK ASSESSMENT 58 ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSOR CHARACTERISTICS 58 THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL 66 REVIEW OF ASSESSMENT ENDPOINTS RELEVANT TO THIS PROJECT 68 RISK ANALYSIS PLAN 71 PROJECT WORK 73 · CHAPTER 6. CHARACTERISATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES 73 INTRODUCTION 74 MATERIALS AND METHODS 75 RESULTS 81 DISCUSSION 90 CHAPTER 7. PROBABILISTIC ASSESSMENT OF RISKS TO AQUATIC SPECIES IN MOUNTAIN RIVER 94 INTRODUCTION 95 PROBLEM FORMULATION 97 RISK ANALYSIS 98 RISK CHARACTERISATION 108 CONCLUSIONS 116 CHAPTER 8 . SITE-SPECIFIC FIELD STUDY OF CHLORPYRIFOS EFFECTS ON FISH 117 INTRODUCTION 118 MATERIALS AND METHODS 119 RESULTS 122 DISCUSSION 127 CONCLUSIONS FROM MULTIPLE LINES OF EVIDENCE 131 CHAPTER 9 . AERIAL MOVEMENT OF CHLORPYRIFOS AND POTENTIAL FOR RISK MITIGATION USING SPRAY BUFFERS 132 INTRODUCTION 133 MATERIALS AND METHODS 134 RESULTS 137 DISCUSSION 142 THESIS SYNTHESIS 148 CHAPTER 10. DISCUSSION 148 SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FINDINGS 148 LIMITATIONS ON THE INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS 150 ACCEPTANCE OF RISK 152 RISKS VS. BENEFITS 153 CRITIQUE OF ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT METHODS USED IN THIS PROJECT 154 APPLICABILITY OF ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT METHODS IN AUSTRALIA 156 REFERENCES 157 APPENDICES 168 APPENDIX I 168 APPENDIX II 169 APPENDIX III 173 APPENDIX IV 174 DECLARATION I declare that this thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University of Tasmania or any other institution, and to the best of my knowledge and belief contains no copy or paraphrase of material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis. Rachel Walker C/ I /II 2001 This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Rachel Walker 1////2001 ABSTRACT In the Huon Valley, southern Tasmania, Australia, large volumes of pesticides are applied to the region's apple orchards. The broad objective of this study was to determine whether regional aquatic ecosystems are being adversely impacted by the use of orchard pesticides. The subcatchment of Mountain River was chosen as the study area, and a regional risk assessment was completed to gain an understanding of the environmental issues in the region. A Tier 1 risk assessment identified the insecticide, chlorpyrifos, as being of particular concern to aquatic ecosystems. The risk hypothesis for research on chlorpyrifos was that spray drift from chlorpyrifos applications in orchard located on river flats was resulting in aquatic ecosystems being exposed to potentially harmful concentrations of pesticide. Chlorpyrifos exposures in Mountain River were characterised using data from seasonal sampling and sampling at the time of spray application. Seasonal results showed intermittent, low-level detections of chlorpyrifos in Mountain River. Sampling at the time of spraying provided unique field data describing the magnitude and duration of pulse exposures at a site directly exposed to spray drift. The concentrations measured compared well with the spray drift model, AgDRIFT™. Chlorpyrifos effects in Mountain River were characterised using multiple lines of evidence. Probabilistic risk assessments using cumulative frequency distributions of exposure and effects data, and @Risk® software simulations of probability distributions functions fitted with BestFit® software showed that aquatic species were not adversely impacted by the exposures measured. Field studies validated the outcomes of the probabilistic risk assessment for fish species. In situ investigations on the blood chemistry and acetykholinesterase activity of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykzss) were used to assess acute effects. A maximum aquatic concentration of 0.163µg/L was measured soon after the commencement of spraying, but no significant changes in blood chemistry parameters or cholinesterase activity were detected. Body burdens and histology of native fish caught from localities surrounded by orchards confirmed exposure to pesticides but it was difficult to assess the severity of chronic effects, given the multiple stressors to which fish in agricultural areas are exposed. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am appreciative of the help received from many people throughout this project. In particular I would like to sincerely thank: );;>- Dr Philip Brown and Dr Barbara Nowak, my supervisors, for their support and encouragement throughout this project. Professor Rob Clark facilitated arrangements in the early stages of candidature. );;>- Tom Frankcomb, who kindly allowed me to undertake pulse exposure sampling in his orchard. );;>- Bill Peterson, Sally Jones and general staff of the School of Agricultural Science for technical support. );;>- Graham Rowbottom of the Central Science Laboratory for assistance with sample analysis, and staff of the Analytical Services Tasmania Laboratory, for technical advice and provision of lab space and equipment. );;>- Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries Water Resources and the Hydroelectricity Corporation for loan of sampling equipment. Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries IPM Branch for in-kind support. );;>- Dr Paul Hughes, Dow AgroSciences, for his interc::st in the project. );;>- Serve-Ag, Huonville, for provision of information·on regional crop protection products. );;>- Professor Keith Solomon for provision of Barron and Woodburn (1995) toxicity data in electronic form. );;>- Wayne Landis, Mary Moores, Dixie Cheek, Eugene Hoerauf and all those who made my studies at Western Washington University so enjoyable. );;>- Fellow students in the School of Agricultural Science, especially Janelle Brown for her wonderful friendship. );;>- Mum, Dad, Adam, Cleo and Marcel for their love, encouragement and all the things they have done to help me throughout the project. Funding support from the Horticultural Research and Development Corporation with a voluntary contribution from Dow AgroSciences is gratefully acknowledged. iii THESIS FORMAT The thesis is composed of ten chapters divided into four sections: >- Project Background >- Preliminary Investigations and Research Background >- Project Work );;>- Thesis Synthesis At the start of each chapter, there is a chapter background, which details the aims and objectives of the work described in the chapter, and summarises the chapter content. Six research papers have been written in the course of this project. These papers have been included as thesis chapters with submission details given in the chapter background. To avoid repetition of some background material, some papers have been edited and the thesis chapter is not the submitted paper in its entirety. lV PROJECT BACKGROUND CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION Chapter Background: This chapter describes the background and broad objectives of , the project, and introduces the history and principles of ecological risk assessment. BROAD OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT The Huon Valley is an intensive horticultural region in southern Tasmania, Australia, and has been recognised as a significant orcharding district for over 130 years. Currently the State produces approximately 20% of the total Australian apple crop (Australian Horticultural Corporation, 2000) and 60% of Australian apple exports (Tasmanian Apple and Pear Growers Association, 1998). Pesticides are an essential management option in modern apple orchards, but pollution of soil, waterways and groundwater has been an issue of concern in the'Huon Valley. Compared to the United States, Canada and Europe, there has been very limited monitoring of the distribution or impact of pesticides in the Australian environment. The majority of pesticides research in Australia has been focused on the environmental fate and effects of endosulfan used in the cotton industry (LWRRDC, 1998). There is a scarcity of field measurements available for other pesticides and other industries. An important component of this project was to collect pesticides field data from an intensive orcharding region. The project attempted to extend the understanding of how pesticides behave in the environment by placing particular emphasis on the aquatic and aerial dissipation of a pesticide pulse exposure. The focus of the study was on the insecticide chlorpyrifos, a chemical with a variety of agricultural, domestic and industrial