The Effects of Roundup and Glyphosate on C. Elegans Population Size

Overview

Our research indicates that the herbicide Roundup Super Concentrate and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are possibly more harmful than currently recognized. In 2007, more than 200 million pounds of Roundup were released into the environment, and in 2016 glyphosate was named the most used agricultural chemical ever. The prevalence of these chemicals in our environment alone warrants their further study. This study consists of five experiments done using the C. elegans model organism. The 1st experiment determined the highest glyphosate concentration that would elicit little or no effect on the worm’s population size as compared to a control population. We found this level to be 0.001%. The second experiment tested whether Roundup Super Concentrate was less harmful after being passed through soil, and we found that soil filtration had no observable impact on the C. elegans population. The third experiment tested whether the toxicity of glyphosate would be amplified if it was administered along with the food source of C. elegans. We found that the effects of glyphosate did have a greater impact on the population size, with the control group having a population more then twice the size of the group that was exposed to 1% glyphosate. A fourth experiment tested whether a C. elegans population exposed to glyphosate for five generations and then reintroduced into a standard glyphosate-free environment, could recover to the size of a control population. We found that the worms were able to recover, with the treatment group exposed to 1% glyphosate having a population statistically equal to the control group exposed to 0% glyphosate. The final experiment tested whether the inert ingredients found in Roundup Super Concentrate had a negatively synergistic interaction with the active ingredient, glyphosate. We found that the combination of glyphosate and the inert ingredients in Roundup had a more toxic effect on the C. elegans populations than glyphosate alone.

Competition history

• AJAS 2018 Category not listed

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