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The widespread prophylactic usage of neonicotinoid insecticides has a clear impact on non-target organisms. However, the possible effects of long-term exposure on soil-dwelling organisms are still poorly understood especially for social insects with long-living queens. Here, we show that effects of chronic exposure to the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam on black garden ant colonies, Lasius niger, become visible before the second overwintering.

The Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) colony at Beddington Farmlands – which used to be one of the biggest in England – is all but lost following a shocking decline of the species at the London site, with analysis in the Beddington Farmlands 2019 Bird and Wildlife Report suggesting failed habitat management as the key factor.

Rome authorities continue to investigate the cause behind the mysterious death of hundreds of fish in the city's river Tiber on 30 May. Initial tests have proved inconclusive and further testing is underway, however police do not believe the phenomenon relates to deliberate illegal dumping of toxic material into the river. The capital's environment department is however working on the theory that the mass death of the fish relates to insecticides used in corn crops, abundant in farms north of Rome, reports online newspaper RomaToday.

Insect populations are plummeting across the world because of industrial farming and heavy pesticide use, and this decline is a threat to food production, warned a new report released on Tuesday (9 June 2020). The ‘Insect Atlas’ is a comprehensive new global review of trends in insect populations, their relationship with agriculture, and what needs to be done to ameliorate it. It was published by the Green think tank Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in conjunction with environmental campaigns group Friends of the Earth Europe.

Here we demonstrate for the frst time that field-realistic concentrations of the commonly used neonicotinoid insecticide thiacloprid can severely affect the immunocompetence of Osmia bicornis. In detail, males exposed to thiacloprid solutions of 200 and 555µg/kg showed a reduction in hemocyte density. Moreover, functional aspects of the immune defence - the antimicrobial activity of the hemolymph - were impaired in males. In females, however, only a concentration of 555µg/kg elicited similar immunosuppressive efects.

Eight species of flora and five species of fauna are nearing extinction in Punjab. The once-common white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis) is critically endangered since 2000. Another endangered species is Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica). Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) is another vulnerable bird species. Indian Rock Python (Python molurus) and Indian Roofed Turtle (Kachuga tecta) are also endangered. Among the endangered trees is ‘Seem’ tree (Tecomella undulata), an economically and pharmaceutically important tree.

The grey partridge (Perdix perdix) has been deemed extirpated from Switzerland following a year of no sightings in 2019, marking a sad demise for a species once common in the land-locked European nation. Last year's blank came after only two breeding pairs were found in the Geneva region in 2018. Given their sedentary nature, a recurrence of the species is considered very unlikely.

One of the most iconic Halloween symbols has been suffering a severe population drop for more than a decade, officials from the the Connecticut Deprtment of Energy and Environemntal Protection said Monday. What's normal Across Connecticut is that bats are on the move with three species of tree bats moving south for the winter and while the six cave bat species moving "shorter distances," where they will spend the winter hibernating, DEEP officials said.

Bird watchers say a cold snap in late spring left many birds without their usual food source, resulting in the deaths of many baby birds. “Baby birds and nesting birds rely on insects and other invertebrates to feed their young and as a high source of protein for nesting birds. During cold temperatures like that, the bugs go dormant, they retreat under barks of trees, they just become harder to find,” said Dawn Hewitt, editor of Bird Watcher's Digest. Lacking a proper food source, many adult birds and especially baby birds became malnourished.

Experimental evidence demonstrates that the toxicity of neonicotinoids increases with exposure time as much as with the dose, and therefore it has been described as time-cumulative toxicity. This pattern of toxicity, also found among carcinogenic compounds and other toxicants, has been ignored in ecotoxicology and risk assessments for a long time. The implications of the time-cumulative toxicity of neonicotinoids on non-target organisms of aquatic and terrestrial environments are far reaching.