Title:Development of Caridina nilotica life-cycle toxicity test protocol in order to derive water quality guideline for Roundup herbicide in South Africa
Student: Paul Kojo Mensah
Country of origin: Ghana
Degree: PhD (Water Resource Science)
Supervisor: Dr. Nikite Muller
Year of registration: 2009
Student number: 609M6983

Herbicides as toxic agents are known to cause deleterious effects in aquatic ecosystems. South African farmers, as well as organizations interested in protecting the country's water resources often use Roundup and other glyphosate formulated herbicides to control weeds or invading alien plant species. These herbicides ultimately end up in water bodies indirectly through drifting, leaching, and surface runoff, or directly by foliar spray of these nuisance plants. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of ecotoxicological data on the impacts of these herbicides on the aquatic biota. The freshwater shrimp Caridina nilotica is an indigenous species often used for aquatic ecotoxicological tests in South Africa. Currently, there is no ecotoxicological data for Roundup (or any other glyphosate based herbicide) on C. nilotica. Furthermore, there is no life-cycle toxicity test protocol for C. nilotica despite the availability of protocols for testing some specific life-stage. Thus, this study will seek to fill these gaps. The overall aim of the study is to develop a water quality guideline that can be used to manage environmental water quality as part of integrated water resource management.

Last Modified: Tue, 18 Aug 2015 11:49:15 SAST