Toxicity of Eight Herbicides to Marine Alga Tetraselmis sp. from 2019 Lab Experiments

Eight herbicides detected in Great Barrier Reef catchments were tested for their effects on the specific growth rates of the marine microalgae Tetraselmis sp. during laboratory experiments conducted in 2019. The project applied standard ecotoxicology protocols to determine the effects of Photosystem II (PSII) and alternative herbicides on algal growth over 3-day exposures. Data was contributed by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Modeling dose-response relationships for herbicides based on specific growth rate inhibition data.
• Comparing the relative toxicity of PSII and alternative herbicide classes to marine microalgae.
• Informing water quality guidelines and risk assessments for the Great Barrier Reef catchment area.
• Benchmarking algal toxicity data against effects on other marine taxa mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Data is based on laboratory experiments using a standard algal strain (Tetraselmis sp. CS-317) and published ecotoxicology protocols.
• Tests eight specific herbicides (diuron, metribuzin, tebuthiuron, bromacil, propazine, simazine, imazapic, haloxyfop-p-methyl) with documented purity (≥98%).
• Experimental conditions are precisely documented, including temperature (28 ± 1°C), salinity (33 ± 1.5 psu), and light cycle (12:12 h).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the single-year (2019) laboratory study.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network (via data_gov_au).

Collection Method

Laboratory growth bioassays over 72-hour exposures, with cell density measured using a haemocytometer.

Time Range

2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 17:58:46.633410; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Barrier Reef catchment area (Australia), though experiments were conducted in a laboratory setting.