Pesticide Contamination to Non-target Organisms, the Environment, and Agroecosystems

A special issue of Environments (ISSN 2076-3298).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2025 | Viewed by 1472

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Entomology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
Interests: beekeeping; pollinator conservation; toxicology; insect ecology

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Guest Editor
School of the Environment, Washington State University, Puyallup, WA, USA
Interests: hazard/risk assessment; aquatic organisms; butterfly conservation; demographic toxicology; insect pest control
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pesticides are widely used in agricultural lands to control various pest species and increase crop yields. However, they may adversely affect non-target species, including wild plants, invertebrates (e.g., insect predators and pollinators) and vertebrates (e.g., amphibians, reptiles, fishes, birds, and mammals) living in and around agricultural lands that are vital for the ecosystem. Assesssing pesticide toxicity to non-target organisms is a standard process for pesticide registration and environmental protection, but quite often, these studies are conducted on a limited number of surrogate species under laboratory conditions because it is challenging to perform such assessments in nature due to exposure and several risk factors. Moreover, pesticides indirectly affect the non-target species as they can move throughout the environment of soil, water, plant tissue and prey organisms.

This Special Issue seeks to publish papers that address the effects of pesticides on non-target species. Topics can range from exposure levels, toxicity, direct versus indirect effects, risk assessment, and mitigation of pesticide effects at mulitple sites and across large geographical areas. Studies that highlight mitigation methods or techniques to reduce exposure (e.g., using appropirate pesticides, dosages, time and application equipment) and increase non-target species’ resistance to pesticides via bioremediation techniques (e.g., biochar to absorb pesticides, microbial biodegradation of pesticides) are also welcome.

Dr. Ge Zhang
Prof. Dr. John D. Stark
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • pesticide
  • herbicide
  • insecticide
  • fungicide
  • rodencide
  • miticide
  • exposure assessment
  • risk assessment
  • expoure route
  • mitigation
  • natural enemy
  • pollinator
  • insect
  • fish
  • amphibian and reptile
  • mamal
  • wildlife
  • soil and water
  • plant

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 1602 KiB  
Article
Ecotoxicity of Pesticides Approved for Use in European Conventional or Organic Agriculture for Honeybees, Birds, and Earthworms
by Lena Goritschnig, Helmut Burtscher-Schaden, Thomas Durstberger and Johann G. Zaller
Environments 2024, 11(7), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments11070137 - 28 Jun 2024
Viewed by 762
Abstract
Pesticides affect biota inside and outside agricultural fields due to their intrinsic mode of action. This study investigated whether pesticide active substances (AS) approved for conventional agriculture in Europe differ in their ecotoxicity from AS approved for organic agriculture. The evaluation was based [...] Read more.
Pesticides affect biota inside and outside agricultural fields due to their intrinsic mode of action. This study investigated whether pesticide active substances (AS) approved for conventional agriculture in Europe differ in their ecotoxicity from AS approved for organic agriculture. The evaluation was based on official ecotoxicological data for surrogate honeybee, bird, and earthworm species, which also serve as a reference for official environmental risk assessments in the pesticide authorization process. In October 2022, 268 chemical-synthetic AS approved for conventional and 179 nature-based AS approved for organic agriculture were listed in the EU Pesticide Database. Ecotoxicological data were only available for 254 AS approved for use in conventional agriculture and 110 AS approved for use in organic agriculture. The results showed a higher ecotoxicity of conventional AS: 79% (201 AS), 64% (163 AS) and 91% (230 AS) were moderately to acutely toxic to honeybees, birds, and earthworms, respectively, compared to 44% (48 AS), 14% (15 AS) and 36% (39 AS) of AS approved for organic agriculture. We have only considered the potential ecotoxicities of individual substances in this assessment; actual exposure in the field, where multiple AS formulations with other chemicals (including impurities) are applied, will be different. Nevertheless, these results emphasize that an increase in organic agriculture in Europe would reduce the ecotoxicological burden on biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Full article
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