Fine dust pollution in the atmosphere has been an increasing
problem for human health around the globe. Specifically, neighbouring countries
of China, such as Korea, have experienced more serious consequences of fine
dust pollution due to Chinese development. The chemical compounds existing in
fine dust pose harmful effects on the health of all generations, presenting
increased statistics of various pulmonary diseases. Chemical compounds found in
fine dust can be categorized into three different classes: agricultural, heavy
metal, and emission pollutants. Although how these chemical compounds impact
human health have been studied before, no studies have been conducted on how
these compounds can impact different organisms and ecological stability. In
this study, two chemical compounds from each category were utilized: bifenthrin
and gamma-cyhalothrin from agricultural pollutants, copper nitrate and iron
nitrate from heavy metals and sulfuric acid and nitric acid from emission
pollutants. The compounds were used to observe acute physiological effects of
Daphnia magna, specifically the heartbeat rate and phototactic swimming rate.
Each daphnia’s heartbeat rate and phototactic swimming rate were evaluated
after 30 minutes of incubation. Although the results varied, there were
significant statistical differences in both the heart rate and phototactic
swimming rate when compared with that of original parameters. The data
demonstrated us to conclude that all the three categories of chemical compounds
induced moderate changes to their heartbeat and swimming capability with the
order from the largest agricultural>heavy metal>acidic pollutants in terms
of regression slopes of swimming duration and relative magnitude of heartbeat
change. Therefore, the results concluded that the chemical compounds existing
in fine dust can cause acute physiological effects on daphnia magna.
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