How should conservationists respond to pesticides as a driver of biodiversity loss in agroecosystems?

Dudley, Nigel; Attwood, Simon; Goulson, Dave; Jarvis, D. I.; Bharucha, Zareen Pervez; Pretty, Jules

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2017.03.012

Cited by 74 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…In the contemporary agriculture, Si currently has a very promising use perspective, by recent advances in the understanding of the ionic accumulation of this mineral element in the crop plants physiology (Hobara et al, 2016). It confers resistance to insect pests, microorganisms and environmental abiotic factors, and, consequently, reduction of the use of pesticides and environmental risks (Dallagnol et al, 2009;Filha et al, 2011;Datnoff and Rodrigues, 2015;He et al, 2015;Dudley et al, 2017). In addition, it improves the photosynthetic performance, which favors their growth and plant reproductive development .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is silicon capable to affect the photosynthetic performance of green maize plants?

Santos¹,

Souza²,

Cruz³

et al. 2019

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

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Green maize (Zea mays L.) is a cultivated species of significant importance in the agricultural scene. The literature reports that Si has been used as an alternative option for sustainable agricultural systems. We examined the hypothesis that this beneficial element will improve the photosynthetic performance and biological productivity of crop plants, under field conditions, without nutritional stress. In this context, leaf gas exchanges, physiological indexes, and growth parameters were investigated in green maize, AG4051 and CATIVERDE 02, under Si availabilities at the initial stage of vegetative development. The treatments were: Via shoot; 0, 130, 260, 390 and 520 g ha -1 ; and via roots; 0, 100, 500, 1000 and 2000 kg ha -1 . The experimental design was randomized blocks (RB) with 5 blocks (experimental plots). The beneficial mineral element Si did not have an improvement on gas exchanges of green maize plants and, consequently, plant development. In conclusion, we reject our initial hypothesis and we accepted the alternative hypothesis, that the beneficial element Si did not optimize the photosynthetic performance and biological productivity of green maize plants, without nutritional stress.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is silicon capable to affect the photosynthetic performance of green maize plants?

Santos¹,

Souza²,

Cruz³

et al. 2019

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

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“…, Dudley et al. ). To conserve biodiversity more effectively, it is important to quantify the extinction vulnerability of species and populations due to chemical exposure (De Laender et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Environmental pollution has been identified as an important driver of current biodiversity loss and its impact is expected to further increase in the future (Maxwell et al 2016, Young et al 2016. For example, synthetic pesticides in agricultural practices are predicted to be increasingly used in the next decades because of climate change (Kattwinkel et al 2011), potentially leading to large biodiversity losses (Beketov et al 2013, Hallmann et al 2014, Dudley et al 2017. To conserve biodiversity more effectively, it is important to quantify the extinction vulnerability of species and populations due to chemical exposure (De Laender et al 2014, Forbes et al 2016.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using field data to quantify chemical impacts on wildlife population viability

Hilbers

Hoondert

Schipper

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

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Abstract. Environmental pollution is an important driver of biodiversity loss. Yet, to date, the effects of chemical exposure on wildlife populations have been quantified for only a few species, mainly due to a lack of appropriate laboratory data to quantify chemical impacts on vital rates. In this study, we developed a method to quantify the effects of toxicant exposure on wildlife population persistence based on field monitoring data. We established field-based vital-rate-response functions for toxicants, using quantile regression to correct for the influences of confounding factors on the vital rates observed, and combined the response curves with population viability modelling. We then applied the method to quantify the impact of DDE on three bird species: the White-tailed Eagle, Bald Eagle, and Osprey. Population viability was expressed via five population extinction vulnerability metrics: population growth rate (r 1 ), critical patch size (CPS), minimum viable population size (MVP), probability of population extirpation (PE), and median time to population extirpation (MTE). We found that past DDE exposure concentrations increased population extirpation vulnerabilities of all three bird species. For example, at DDE concentrations of 25 mg/kg wet mass of egg (the maximum historic exposure concentration reported in literature for the Osprey), r 1 became small (White-tailed Eagle and Osprey) or close to zero (Bald Eagle), the CPS increased up to almost the size of Connecticut (White-tailed Eagle and Osprey) or West Virginia (Bald Eagle), the MVP increased up to approximately 90 (White-tailed Eagle and Osprey) or 180 breeding pairs (Bald Eagle), the PE increased up to almost certain extirpation (Bald Eagle) or only slightly elevated levels (White-tailed Eagle and Osprey) and the MTE became within decades (Bald Eagle) or remained longer than a millennium (White-tailed Eagle and Osprey). Our study provides a method to derive species-specific field-based response curves of toxicant exposure, which can be used to assess population extinction vulnerabilities and obtain critical levels of toxicant exposure based on maximum permissible effect levels. This may help conservation managers to better design appropriate habitat restoration and population recovery measures, such as reducing toxicant levels, increasing the area of suitable habitat or reintroducing individuals.

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“…In Europe, the regulatory system for pesticides is widely regarded as the most rigorous in the world, with a complex system in place to review the safety of new plant protection products and re-evaluate their safety at intervals (Handford et al 2015). Although pesticides are known to have wrought considerable environmental damage in the past, as was famously exposed by Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" (1962), there is a perception that modern pesticides are much safer (Dudley et al 2017). The European Union (EU) has been promoting reduced pesticide use and increased adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices (Hillocks 2012;Handford et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nonetheless there are concerns that the landscape scale, industrial use of multiple pesticides poses risks to the environment that are not captured by regulatory tests which largely focus on short-term studies in which test organisms are exposed to a single chemical (Dudley et al 2017;Milner & Boyd 2017). Recent studies have linked environmental contamination with neonicotinoid insecticides in particular to declines in wild bees (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #2 of "Rapid rise in toxic load for bees revealed by analysis of pesticide use in Great Britain (v0.1)"

2018

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A strong argument can be made that the European Union has the most rigorous regulatory system for pesticides in the world, and that modern pesticide use poses fewer environmental threats than older regimes. Nevertheless, the impacts of pesticides on bees and other non-target organisms is much debated in Europe as elsewhere. Here we document changing patterns of pesticide use in arable and horticultural crops in Great Britain from 1990 to 2015. The weight of pesticides used has approximately halved over this period, but in contrast the number of applications per field nearly doubled. The total potential kill of honeybees (the total number of LD 50 doses applied to the 4.6 million hectares of arable farmland in Great Britain each year) increased six-fold to approximately 3 x 10 16 bees, the result of the increasing use of neonicotinoids from 1994 onwards which more than offset the effect of declining organophosphate use. It is important to stress that this does not mean that this number of bees will be killed, and also to acknowledge that our simple analysis does not take into account many factors such as differences in persistence, and timing and mode of application of pesticides, which will affect actual exposure of non-target organisms. Nonetheless, all else being equal, these data suggest that the risk posed by pesticides to non-target insects such as bees, other pollinators and natural enemies of pests, has increased considerably in the last 26 years.

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How should conservationists respond to pesticides as a driver of biodiversity loss in agroecosystems?

Cited by 74 publications

References 47 publications

Is silicon capable to affect the photosynthetic performance of green maize plants?

Is silicon capable to affect the photosynthetic performance of green maize plants?

Using field data to quantify chemical impacts on wildlife population viability

Peer Review #2 of "Rapid rise in toxic load for bees revealed by analysis of pesticide use in Great Britain (v0.1)"

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