How does crop type influence risk from pesticides to the aquatic environment?

Abstract

National-level risk mapping was undertaken to identify specific situations within England with the greatest potential for impacts on aquatic biodiversity from normal agricultural use of pesticides. Calculations of exposure via spray drift and drainflow were differentiated by landscape type, region, and crop and then compared with toxicity to the indicator organisms Daphnia magna and algae. The approach incorporated regional-level information regarding pesticide usage derived from farm visits. Risk was calculated for individual water bodies and then aggregated and mapped for each of 5,760 individual catchments ranging in area up to 248 km2. Type of crop adjacent to water was the major driver for risk, and orchards were identified as the crop associated with the greatest potential risk to the aquatic environment. Crops such as cereals, oilseeds, and potatoes are more widely grown in England but have potential risk an order of magnitude smaller than that for orchards. Several of the pesticides that contribute most to risk have been withdrawn from use since collection of the most recent usage data. Driven by crop distribution, surface waters adjacent to orchards in the midwest and southeast of England are predicted to be most at risk of ecological impacts from agricultural pesticide use. This information can be used in targeting monitoring campaigns designed to protect the aquatic environment.

Ecotoxicological Assessment of Sediment Leachates of Small Watercourses in the Brno City Suburban Area (South Moravia, Czech Republic)

“…Water fleas belong to organisms highly susceptible to most pollutants (Enserink et al 1993) such as pesticides containing organophosphates and carbamates (Barata et al 2007;Svobodova and Faina 1994;Brown et al 2007 by Santiago et al (1993) were in agreement with our results, when Daphnia magna was found to be the least susceptible. High immobilization of daphnia specimens observed in sample L2 from the spring collection was probably due to the presence of suspended substances in the filtered leachate of the sediment forming flocculation during the test, which disabled their movement when sticking onto their antennae.…”

Environmental versus Anthropogenic Effects on Population Adaptive Divergence in the Freshwater Snail Lymnaea stagnalis

“…Our strategy built on the use of landscape geographic information and agricultural land-use data. These have proved to be relevant tools to predict water body contamination by pesticides [51] and to assess pesticide exposure in the field (ditches [52]; ponds [18],[53],[54]). Moreover, in such aquatic systems, most variation may be explained by close land-use patterns (within a 100 m radius area), as demonstrated for water quality and vegetation complexity [55].…”

Small Water Bodies in Great Britain and Ireland: Ecosystem function, human-generated degradation, and options for restorative action

“…Contaminants of SWBs include agricultural and amenity pesticides, veterinary and human medicines, personal care products, biocides, heavy metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Pesticides are the most important and widespread organic contaminants in SWBs and a major risk to aquatic ecosystems ( Brown et al, 2007 ). Extensive contamination of ditches and headwater streams can be inferred from statutory monitoring for larger UK water bodies and from many field experiments that quantify edge-of-field concentrations in sub-surface drainage ( Brown et al, 2006 ; Brown and Van Beinum, 2009 ).…”