Glyphosate impairs learning in Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae at field-realistic doses.

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world. Over the past few years, the number of studies revealing deleterious effects of glyphosate on non-target species has been increasing. Here, we studied the impact of glyphosate at field-realistic doses on learning in mosquito larvae (Aedes aegypti). Larvae of A. aegypti live in small bodies of water and perform a stereotyped escape response when a moving object projects its shadow on the water surface. Repeated presentations of an innocuous visual stimulus induce a decrease in response due to habituation, a non-associative form of learning. In this study, different groups of larvae were reared in water containing different concentrations of glyphosate that are commonly found in the field (50 µg l-1, 100 µg l-1, 210 µg l-1 and 2 mg l-1). Larvae reared in a glyphosate solution of 2 mg l-1 (application dose) could complete their development. However, glyphosate at a concentration of 100 µg l-1 impaired habituation. A dose-dependent deleterious effect on learning ability was observed. This protocol opens new avenues to further studies aimed at understanding how glyphosate affects non-target organisms, such as insects. Habituation in mosquito larvae could serve as a parameter for testing the impact of pollutants in the water.