Toxicity of vegetable tannins on crustacea associated with alpine mosquito breeding sites.

The impact of tannins from the environmental vegetation naturally polluting Alpine mosquito breeding sites was experimentally investigated by studying the toxicity of tannic acid, a natural hydrolyzable tannin, on the nontarget crustacean fauna associated with culicine populations. Bioassays indicate that exposure to tannic acid at concentrations from 0.06 to 2.0 mM is more deleterious to Chydorus sphaericus, Diaptomus castor, and Eucypris fuscata, than to Daphnia pulex, Acanthocyclops robustus, and Eucypris virens. Histopathological investigations after treatment with tannic acid at concentrations from 0.125 to 0.500 mM reveal sequential degenerative patterns of the midgut epithelium depending on the taxon, duration of the treatment, and concentrations assayed. These differential toxic effects on Crustacea are compared with those previously observed in larval Diptera, in order to evaluate the plant tannins as potentially useful products in integrated mosquito management programs.