Toxicity of Industry Effluents to Freshwater Invertebrates (Focus: Daphnia spp.): A Bibliometric and Systematic Review of Acute, Chronic, and Sublethal Effects.

Authors

Juliet Bangnia Angkyier, Lyndon Nii Adjiri Sackey, Peter Sarpong, Evans Antwi Adjei, Benjamin Okoe, Rafia Mashud, Emmanuel Asempa Osei, Mary Abigail Gyamu-Yeboah, Martha Andrews, Leila Osaah Ramdy, Isaac Ayew Aidoo

Published in

Journal of applied toxicology : JAT. Jul 14, 2026. Epub Jul 14, 2026.

Abstract

Industrial effluents are complex mixtures of pollutants that threaten freshwater ecosystems, and Daphnia magna (water fleas) are an established model for aquatic toxicity testing. Using a systematic review (PRISMA) of existing D. magna studies on industrial wastewater toxicity, we compiled acute, chronic, and sublethal endpoint data. Twenty-four studies were selected based on the inclusion criteria, highlighting various sectors (textiles, pharmaceutical, leather tanning, and pulp/paper) and exposure periods (24-216 h). To allow for cross-study comparisons, all endpoints reported as LC₅₀/EC₅₀ were standardized into toxic units (TUs). Most effluents were highly toxic, with more than 50% of discharges exhibiting LC₅₀ values below 10%, indicating high acute toxicity. In a meta-analytic ranking, veterinary pharmaceuticals and alcohol effluents were among the most toxic to D. magna, whereas textile effluents were less severe. Few studies tested exposures for longer than 48 h; long-term assays suggest that even modest effluents severely affect D. magna reproduction, growth, behavior, and mobility upon chronic exposure. Overall, this systematic review provides a comparative risk ranking of industrial sectors. These results indicate that current effluent regulations, based primarily on short-term LC₅₀ thresholds, do not adequately predict ecological risk to aquatic invertebrates. We thus recommend that whole effluent toxicity (WET) tests include chronic and multi-endpoint evaluations and that more stringent effluent controls be established for the most toxic sectors.

PMID:
42444416
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 14 Jul 2026.

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