Alarming evidence of widespread mite extinctions in the shadows of plant, insect and vertebrate extinctions

Sullivan, Greg; Ozman‐Sullivan, Sebahat K.

doi:10.1111/aec.12932

Cited by 17 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 83 publications

(116 reference statements)

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“…Increases in land conversion and agricultural intensification accelerate the loss of soil biodiversity and, as a result, have contributed to the reduction of approximately 60% of soil ecosystem services (Díaz et al, 2006;Veresoglou et al, 2015;Singh et al, 2019). Many insects that depend on soil for portions of their life cycle, like ground beetles and groundnesting bees, as well as terrestrial insects and mites in North America, have declined greatly in recent decades (Forister et al, 2019;Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys, 2019;van Klink et al, 2020;Sullivan and Ozman-Sullivan, 2021). Habitat loss due to agricultural intensification and pollution, primarily from synthetic agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, are thought to be the major driving factors in recent insect declines and are an increasing threat (Hallmann et al, 2017;Forister et al, 2019;Seibold et al, 2019;Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys, 2019;Miličić et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pesticides and Soil Invertebrates: A Hazard Assessment

Gunstone¹,

Cornelisse²,

Klein³

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

165

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Agricultural pesticide use and its associated environmental harms is widespread throughout much of the world. Efforts to mitigate this harm have largely been focused on reducing pesticide contamination of the water and air, as runoff and pesticide drift are the most significant sources of offsite pesticide movement. Yet pesticide contamination of the soil can also result in environmental harm. Pesticides are often applied directly to soil as drenches and granules and increasingly in the form of seed coatings, making it important to understand how pesticides impact soil ecosystems. Soils contain an abundance of biologically diverse organisms that perform many important functions such as nutrient cycling, soil structure maintenance, carbon transformation, and the regulation of pests and diseases. Many terrestrial invertebrates have declined in recent decades. Habitat loss and agrichemical pollution due to agricultural intensification have been identified as major driving factors. Here, we review nearly 400 studies on the effects of pesticides on non-target invertebrates that have egg, larval, or immature development in the soil. This review encompasses 275 unique species, taxa or combined taxa of soil organisms and 284 different pesticide active ingredients or unique mixtures of active ingredients. We identified and extracted relevant data in relation to the following endpoints: mortality, abundance, biomass, behavior, reproduction, biochemical biomarkers, growth, richness and diversity, and structural changes. This resulted in an analysis of over 2,800 separate “tested parameters,” measured as a change in a specific endpoint following exposure of a specific organism to a specific pesticide. We found that 70.5% of tested parameters showed negative effects, whereas 1.4% and 28.1% of tested parameters showed positive or no significant effects from pesticide exposure, respectively. In addition, we discuss general effect trends among pesticide classes, taxa, and endpoints, as well as data gaps. Our review indicates that pesticides of all types pose a clear hazard to soil invertebrates. Negative effects are evident in both lab and field studies, across all studied pesticide classes, and in a wide variety of soil organisms and endpoints. The prevalence of negative effects in our results underscores the need for soil organisms to be represented in any risk analysis of a pesticide that has the potential to contaminate soil, and for any significant risk to be mitigated in a way that will specifically reduce harm to soil organisms and to the many important ecosystem services they provide.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pesticides and Soil Invertebrates: A Hazard Assessment

Gunstone¹,

Cornelisse²,

Klein³

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

165

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conservative estimates of the total number of mite species range between 500 000 and 1 500 000 (Walter and Proctor, 2013;Stork 2018;Sullivan and Ozman-Sullivan, 2021). There are 528 extant families and 5,629 extant genera, and ~ 63,000 described species (J. Hallan, pers.…”

Section: Formation Of the Mite Specialist Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

The newly formed Mite Specialist Group of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission and the conservation of global mite diversity

Ozman‐Sullivan

Sullivan

2021

Acarological Studies

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The most serious environmental challenge facing humanity is the massive, widespread and continuing loss of biodiversity due to human activities. The commonly reported root causes of the decline and extinction of species are the degradation, destruction and fragmentation of habitat; pollution; pesticide use; invasive species; climate change; and over-exploitation; with co-extinction cascades accelerating the losses. The current alarming rate of loss of species across the biodiversity spectrum has ecological, economic, social, aesthetic, cultural and spiritual impacts that directly undermine the welfare of all humanity. This unprecedented crisis demands an urgent, science-based, comprehensive, coordinated, global response. Among the organizations responding to the multifaceted challenge of biodiversity loss is the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Its enormous pool of integrated expertise, technical capacity and policy experience makes the IUCN the global authority on the status of nature and the suite of measures needed to protect it. The largest of the IUCN's six commissions is the Species Survival Commission, a science-based network of over 160 Specialist Groups, including 17 invertebrate groups; Red List Authorities; and Task Forces. Despite there being an estimated 500,000 -1,500,000 mite species, and their ubiquity in global ecosystems and fundamental role in many ecological processes, mites have received minimal attention on the global conservation agenda. The role of the newly formed Mite Specialist Group, which gained official status in April 2021, is to redress that situation. The mission of the group, which currently includes 65 mite specialists, ecologists, botanists, environmentalists and conservation practitioners from 36 countries on five continents, is to contribute to a collaborative global effort to conserve mite diversity through research, education, advocacy, community engagement and specific conservation initiatives.

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“…The mites (Arachnida: Acari), which constitute ~20% of all the arthropods (Stork 2018), are an extremely large and particularly diverse group. Conservative estimates of the total number of mite species include: 500,000 to 1,000,000 (Walter and Proctor 2013); ~1,000,000 (Seeman 2020); ~1,250,000 (Sullivan and Ozman-Sullivan 2021) and < 1,500,000 (Stork 2018). Extant mite species reflect the evolutionary plasticity of this extremely diverse group (Krantz 2009a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coextinction is magnifying the current extinction crisis, as illustrated by the eriophyoid mites and their host plants

Ozman‐Sullivan

Sullivan

2023

Acarologia

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Coextinction is a major and growing threat to global biodiversity. One of the affected groups is the eriophyoid mites (Prostigmata: Eriophyoidea) which are highly host plant specific. They have been described from an enormous range of annual and perennial plants from grasses to giant forest trees. It is highly likely that there are huge numbers of undescribed eriophyoid species in the subtropical and tropical regions which harbor an extraordinary wealth of plant diversity. The global total of eriophyoid species is estimated to be at least 250,000 but it could be much higher. However, the continuing destruction and degradation of natural habitat, especially tropical forests, and climate change, together pose extreme, on-going threats to the eriophyoid mites because of their vulnerability to co-extinction with their host plants. It has been reported that one third of all the Earth’s plant species are now at risk of extinction. Together with enormous numbers of other invertebrate species, it is highly likely that many thousands of eriophyoid species are disappearing in the current mass extinction event. Population decline and co-extinction, especially of the invertebrates, are greatly accelerating total biodiversity losses. The termination of habitat destruction and degradation; establishment of large, representative protected areas; restoration of degraded areas; and rapid reduction of fossil fuel use, are urgent tasks. However, the long term conservation of biodiversity can only be achieved through comprehensive social, economic and political reforms across the world that prioritize environmental protection, peaceful coexistence, social justice and the sustainable use of resources.

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Alarming evidence of widespread mite extinctions in the shadows of plant, insect and vertebrate extinctions

Cited by 17 publications

References 83 publications

Pesticides and Soil Invertebrates: A Hazard Assessment

Pesticides and Soil Invertebrates: A Hazard Assessment

The newly formed Mite Specialist Group of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission and the conservation of global mite diversity

Coextinction is magnifying the current extinction crisis, as illustrated by the eriophyoid mites and their host plants

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