The role of freshwater copepods in the environmental risk assessment of caffeine and propranolol mixtures in the surface water bodies of Spain

Abstract In this study we aimed at assessing: (i) the environmental risk posed by mixtures of caffeine and propranolol to the freshwater ecosystems of Spain; (ii) the sensitivity of freshwater copepod species to the two compounds; (iii) if the toxicity of caffeine and propranolol to freshwater copepods contributes to the environmental risk posed by the two compounds in the freshwater bodies of Spain. The environmental risk was computed as the ratio of MECs (i.e. the measured environmental concentrations) to PNECs (i.e. the respective predicted no-effect concentrations). The effects of caffeine and propranolol on the freshwater cyclopoid Diacyclops crassicaudis crassicaudis were tested both individually and in binary mixtures. Propranolol posed an environmental risk in some but not in all the surface water ecosystems of Spain investigated in this study, while caffeine posed an environmental risk to all the investigated freshwater bodies, both as single compound and in the mixture with propranolol. Propranolol was the most toxic compound to D. crassicaudis crassicaudis , while caffeine was non-toxic to this species. The CA model predicted the toxicity of the propranolol and caffeine mixture for this species. D. crassicaudis crassicaudis was much less sensitive than several other aquatic species to both compounds. The sensitivity of D. crassicaudis crassicaudis does not increase the environmental risk posed by the two compounds in the freshwater bodies of Spain, however, further testing is recommended since the effect of toxicants on freshwater copepods can be more pronounced under multiple stressors and temperature increasing due to climate change.