Imidacloprid Toxicity to Hermit Crab Larvae, Great Barrier Reef Catchment (2017)

Australian Ocean Data Network hosts data from a 2017 ecotoxicology study on the effects of the insecticide imidacloprid on larval development of the hermit crab Coenobita variabilis. The dataset contains results from 6-day exposure experiments conducted under controlled laboratory conditions. These data aim to improve risk assessments for marine crustaceans in the Great Barrier Reef catchment area.

Use Cases

• Modeling dose-response relationships for imidacloprid based on larval transition success rates.
• Assessing environmental risk to marine crustaceans for regulatory purposes based on experimental toxicity data.
• Comparing insecticide sensitivity across different marine taxa using standardized protocol results.

Strengths

• Experiments followed a standard ecotoxicology protocol with quality control criteria (>70% survival in control groups).
• Exposures were conducted in a high-precision environmental chamber with controlled temperature (29 ± 1°C), light, and photoperiod.
• Data analysis used prescribed statistical procedures (OECD, 2006) and the R package DRC for modeling.

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 geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, as broodstock was collected from a single location in Darwin, Australia.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN) under the NESP TWQ 3.1.5 project by AIMS.

Collection Method

Laboratory toxicity tests using transparent polystyrene cell culture plates, with larvae individually allocated to wells and exposed to increasing concentrations of imidacloprid.

Time Range

Experiments were conducted in 2017.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 14:46:45.236816; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Broodstock collected from Nightcliff seashore, Darwin, Australia (12°23'8.70"S, 130°50'34.59"E); study relevant to the Great Barrier Reef catchment area.