DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22qh
title: Data for: Are UV filters better together? A comparison of the toxicity of individual ultraviolet filters and off-the-shelf sunscreens to Daphnia magna

description: Organic ultraviolet filters (UVFs) are known to contaminate many aquatic
 ecosystems, with much environmental contamination attributed to the use of
 UVF-containing skin care products such as sunscreens during aquatic
 recreation. Most studies addressing the impact of sunscreen contamination
 have focused on the effects of UVFs under the assumption that they are the
 primary contaminants of concern from sunscreen pollution; however, the
 extent to which the toxicity of UVFs is representative of the
 environmental impacts of the whole sunscreen mixture is unknown. To
 address this knowledge gap, this study compared the mixture toxicity of
 five off-the-shelf sunscreen spray products containing the UVFs
 avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate, octocrylene, and oxybenzone to the
 toxicity of each UVF in isolation to the freshwater invertebrate Daphnia
 magna. It was found that sunscreen toxicity was not proportional to their
 total UVF content, as the sunscreen containing the fewest UVFs was
 approximately equivalent to the sunscreen with the most UVFs, causing ≥90
 % mortality and inhibiting all daphnid reproduction over 21 d exposures.
 Sunscreen toxicity was typically lower than expected when compared to the
 toxicity of each individual UVF within the mixture, as some sunscreens
 causing ≤20 % mortality contained octocrylene and/or oxybenzone at
 concentrations exceeding those which caused 90 % mortality during exposure
 to the UVF alone. Despite sunscreens causing large impairments in
 reproduction, growth, and metabolism, poor correlations existed between
 the severity of most sublethal endpoints with respect to the measured UVF
 content of each sunscreen. Overall, these results indicate that potential
 antagonistic relationships between sunscreen ingredients can greatly
 reduce the toxicity of UVFs, creating more uncertainty regarding the level
 of threat that UVFs pose to the environment as a result of sunscreen
 contamination.
description: # Data for: Are UV filters better together? A comparison of the toxicity
 of individual ultraviolet filters and off-the-shelf sunscreens to Daphnia
 magna
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22qh](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22qh) [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124953](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124953) (Paper) The "Sunscreen_rawdata" file contains the raw data for the manuscript titled "Are UV filters better together? A comparison of the toxicity of individual ultraviolet filters and off-the-shelf sunscreens to *Daphnia magna*." #### Corresponding author: Aaron Boyd [boyd2@ualberta.ca](mailto:boyd2@ualberta.ca) University of Alberta ## Description of the data and file structure ### Sheet: 21\_d\_exposures This sheet contains the raw data for the 21 day exposure experiment. ##### Column A (Treatment) Chemical treatment used for exposure. Either water with no additions (OECD control), a dimethyl sulfoxide control (DMSO control), sunscreens 1 - 5 (SS1 - SS5), homosalate (HMS), or octisalate (EHS). ##### Column B (Replicate) Assigned sample replicate number within a Treatment (1-20) ##### Column C (Concentration) Concentration used for each Treatment. Listed as micrograms/litre for HMS and EHS, or % volume/volume for the DMSO control and SS1 - SS5 ##### Column D (Start\_Date) Calendar date that the exposure began, listed as day, month, year. ##### Column E (Mortality) The day which any given replicate died. N/A indicates no mortality for the duration of the experiment. ##### Column F (Molts) The number of times each replicate molted during the experiment. ##### Column G (Broods) The number of days where a replicate reproduced in any fashion. ##### Column H (Sex) The sex of each daphnid. F = female daphnid, M = male daphnid ##### Columns I-CL These columns contain the data for each endpoint assessed daily (reproduction, mortality) DayX_notes columns contain comments regarding the daily collection of data. DayX_neonates columns represent the number of living neonates released from the parent that day DayX_eggs columns represent the number of unhatched eggs that were released from the parent that day DayX_stillbirths columns represent the number of neonates released from the parent that were dead at the time of scoring DayX_reproductiveeffort columns represent the sum of the neonates, eggs and stillbirths produced on that day. DayX_molts columns indicate if a molt occurred on that day. Note: Occasionally, broods would be in progress at the time of scoring, which would cause data to appear over two days. To avoid artificially inflating the number of broods, these were merged into one day's data (the day with greater total reproduction). All instances of this are indicated in the corresponding notes column. ##### Column CM (Totalneonates) The sum of living neonates produced over the 21 day experiment ##### Column CN (Totaleggs) The sum of unhatched eggs released over the 21 day experiment ##### Column CO (Totalstillbirths) The sum of dead neonates at the time of scoring released over the 21 day experiment ##### Column CP (Reproductiveeffort) The sum of columns CS-CU, representing all reproduction over the 21 day experiment ##### Column CQ (Wet\_mass) The wet mass of each daphnid at the end of the 21 day experiment, expressed in milligrams ##### Column CR (Dry\_mass) The dry mass of each daphnid at the end of the 21 day experiment, expressed in milligrams ##### Column CS (MR\_raw) The measured metabolic rate of each daphnid, expressed in milligrams of oxygen consumed per litre per hour ##### Column CT (MR\_rSquared) The coefficient of determination for the measured metabolic rate in column DC. ##### Column CU (MR\_mass) The mass corrected metabolic rate of each daphnia (column CS/column CR), expressed in milligrams of oxygen consumed per litre per hour per milligram dry mass. ##### Column CV (MR\_notes) Comments regarding the measurement of metabolic rates. ##### Column CW (Body\_length) The measured length of each daphnid at the end of the 21 day experiment measured from the carapace above the eye spot to the tip of the tail (tail is included). Expressed in millimetres. ##### Column CX (Image\_notes) Comments regarding the measurement of body lengths. ##### Columns CY - DW These columns refer to data in columns I-CL to allow for the identification of each brood released during the 21 day experiment. BroodX_day columns list the exposure day when the daphnid released brood X. BroodX_neonates columns represent the number of living neonates released from the parent during brood X BroodX_eggs columns represent the number of unhatched eggs that were released from the parent during brood X BroodX_stillbirths columns represent the number of neonates released from the parent during brood X that were dead at the time of scoring BroodX_reproductiveeffort columns represent the sum of the neonates, eggs and stillbirths released from the parent during brood X ### Sheet: 21\_d\_survivourship This sheet contains survivourship data for each day of the 21 day experiment. ##### Column A (Treatment) The chemical treatment daphnids were exposed to, corresponding to column A in the "21_d_exposures" sheet ##### Column B (Concentration) The chemical concentration daphnids were exposed to, corresponding to column C in the "21_d_exposures" sheet ##### Column C (Day) The number of days into the 21 day exposure experiment ##### Column D (Alive) The number of living daphnia of a maximum of 20 starting replicates on each exposure day ##### Column E (Total) The total number of valid replicates remaining on each exposure day. Replicates that were damaged outside of the experimental treatments (handling, spillage, etc) were excluded from the maximum of 20 starting replicates. ##### Column F (Total\_Female) The number of surviving female daphnids on each exposure day. ##### Column G (Total\_Male) The number of surviving male daphnids on each exposure day. ### Sheet: Daily\_temp This sheet contains the recorded temperatures during the 21 d experiment phase of this study ##### Column A (Date) The date of each measurement, listed as month, day, year. ##### Column B (Temperature) The measured temperature of the room the work was performed in, expressed in degrees Celsius. ### Sheet: Sunscreen\_analysis This sheet contains the data regarding the measurements of ultraviolet filters in sunscreen samples from the 21 day exposure experiment. N/F values in columns D - K indicates that the measured compounds was below detectable limits. ##### Column A (Treatment) The chemical treatment daphnids were exposed to, corresponding to column A in the "21_d_exposures" sheet ##### Column B (Concentration) The nominal concentration of the sample, expressed in units of % volume/volume. ##### Column C (Replicate) Assigned sample replicate number within a Treatment (1-20) ##### Column D (Avobenzone\_small) The measured concentration of the small avobenzone peak (enol isomer), in micrograms per litre ##### Column E (Avobenzone\_large) The measured concentration of the large avobenzone peak (ketone isomer), in micrograms per litre ##### Column F (Avobenzone\_sum) The summed concentrations of columns D and E, in micrograms per liter. Representing the total avobenzone concentration in each sample. ##### Column G (Homosalate) The measured concentration of homosalate, in micrograms per litre ##### Column H (Octisalate) The measured concentration of octisalate, in micrograms per litre ##### Column I (Octocrylene) The measured concentration of octocrylene, in micrograms per litre ##### Column J (Oxybenzone) The measured concentration of oxybenzone, in micrograms per litre ##### Column K (Total) The total concentration of all measured UV filters, in micrograms per litre