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Round-up All The Mussels: The effects of glyphosate-based roundup in varying concentrations on the gonad BMI and cellular structure of freshwater mussels

CSEF · 2023 Toxicology Fourth Award

Cartwright Beau · 8

Overview

Objectives My objective was to see if the addition of a glyphosate-based herbicide, an endocrine disruptor, could decrease the gonad mass, this would show that the mussel has been feminized. Thus showing the effects of herbicide runoff on aquatic life. Materials and Methods My experiment used 3 different concentrations of Roundup (glyphosate-based herbicide) in mussel tanks: 0 mg/l, 5 mg/l, and 10 mg/l. I constructed three 6L tanks, containing 3 pieces of elodea, 3 cm of coarse sand, 6 pellets of daphnia food, and 5 mussels per tank. I left mussels in their environment for 14 days. I dissected the gonad and used their mass and length to calculate their BMI. After this, I made impressions of the gonad to look at the cellular structure. Results My results were based on the average gonad BMI (Kg/m^3). There was a linear decrease in mussel mass as the concentration of herbicide increased. The control group had a BMI of 0.72 Kg/m^3. The tank with 5 mg/l of Roundup had a BMI of 0.49 Kg/m^3. The tank with 10 mg/l concentration of Roundup had a BMI of 0.39Kg/m^3. I didn't find a correlation between the addition of glyphosate and the cellular structure in the impressions. Conclusion In conclusion, the higher concentrations of glyphosate lowered BMI. I hypothesized the groups with the higher concentrations of Round-up would have a lower gonad mass. My data supports this.

Source coverage

This record comes from a published award list, not a complete project archive. Its abstract comes from CSEF's public project showcase as archived by the Internet Archive before judging (https://web.archive.org/web/20230401224130/https://ca-csef.zfairs.com/showcase/ShowcaseInfo?f=838e60b7-ea75-46e8-865c-fde4864244b3); the version presented may differ.

Awards (2)

Competition history

  • CSEF 2023 Toxicology · Entry J2102

Resources

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