Effects of select pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) on aquatic organisms and ecosystems

The increasing use of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) worldwide leads to their ubiquitous and continuous presence in the environment, especially in aquatic environments, posing potential risk to the biota and ecosystems. PPCPs occur at very low concentrations and often in mixtures of multi PPCPs. This research aims to examine the ecological effects of selected PPCPs on the green alga Scenedesmus abundans (at individual level), using bioassays in the laboratory and biofilms (at community level), using the pharmaceutical diffusing substrates (PhADS). The results show that the antibiotic ciprofloxacin and the antihistamin diphenhydramine induce chronic effects on the alga, such as suppressed algal respiration, primary production and biomass. Selected PPCPs in both individual and binary mixture forms strongly affects biofilms, presented by negative changes in community respiration and production, biomass and possible structure shifts in autotrophic community.