Algemeen

Concerns over the role of pesticides affecting vertebrate wildlife populations have recently focussed on systemic products which exert broad-spectrum toxicity. Given that the neonicotinoids have become the fastest-growing class of insecticides globally, we review here 150 studies of their direct (toxic) and indirect (e.g. food chain) effects on vertebrate wildlife—mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles. We focus on two neonicotinoids, imidacloprid and clothianidin, and a third insecticide, fipronil, which also acts in the same systemic manner. Imidacloprid and fipronil were found to be toxic to many birds and most fish, respectively. All three insecticides exert sub-lethal effects, ranging from genotoxic and cytotoxic effects, and impaired immune function, to reduced growth and reproductive success, often at concentrations well below those associated with mortality. Use of imidacloprid and clothianidin as seed treatments on some crops poses risks to small birds, and ingestion of even a few treated seeds could cause mortality or reproductive impairment to sensitive bird species. In contrast, environmental concentrations of imidacloprid and clothianidin appear to be at levels below those which will cause mortality to freshwater vertebrates, although sub-lethal effects may occur. Some recorded environmental concentrations of fipronil, however, may be sufficiently high to harm fish. Indirect effects are rarely considered in risk assessment processes and there is a paucity of data, despite the potential to exert population-level effects. Our research revealed two field case studies of indirect effects. In one, reductions in invertebrate prey from both
imidacloprid and fipronil uses led to impaired growth in a fish species, and in another, reductions in populations in two lizard species were linked to effects of fipronil on termite prey. Evidence presented here suggests that the systemic insecticides, neonicotinoids and fipronil, are capable of exerting direct and indirect effects on terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate wildlife, thus warranting further review of their environmental safety.

Given its fragile and unusually rich ecology, the Hawaiian island of Kauai seems ill-suited as a site for agricultural experiments that use heavy amounts of toxic chemicals. But four transnational corporations — BASF Plant Science, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont Pioneer, and Syngenta — have been doing just those kinds of experiments here for about two decades, extensively spraying pesticides on their GMO test fields. As a result, the landscape on the southwest corner of the island, around the town of Waimea, has become one of the most toxic chemical environments in all of American agriculture. This poses serious risks for the people of Kauai, as I’ve documented, but even less noticed are the hazards posed to the unique flora and fauna of the island and the coral reefs just off its shores. Each of the seven highly toxic pesticides most commonly used by the GMO giants on Kauai (alachlor, atrazine, chlorpyrifos, methomyl, metolachlor, paraquat, and permethrin) is known to be toxic to wildlife, plants, or both. The isolated geography of Kauai has fostered the evolution of a great diversity of birds, bugs, and plants. Kauai has more unique species — species that live only on the island — than anywhere else in the world, said Carl Berg, an ecologist and long-time advocate for clean water with the Kauai chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. Berg and others fear that these endemic species are being put at great risk of extinction by exposure to the chemicals, though he says he has no idea the extent of the damage. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added 48 species that live only on Kauai to the endangered species list in 2010, including two different species of the Hawaiian honeycreeper, a small bird, and the large Hawaiian picture-wing fly. Also, several protected marine species rest or breed on the island’s beaches, including the highly endangered Hawaiian monk seal and the threatened green sea turtle. Occasionally, an endangered leatherback and hawksbill sea turtle will wander close in. A total of 17 different kinds of dolphins and whales frolic in the island’s harbors and bays.

Butterfly Conservation warns that Britain’s biodiversity is under threat following analysis of data from the National Moth Recording Scheme (NMRS), which has collated more than 16 million moth sightings dating back to 1769. The study by Butterfly Conservation, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and University of York, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, is the first to examine long-term trends for all of Britain’s resident larger moth species; common and scarce, nocturnal and day-flying. Trends for 673 species were calculated, 60% of which showed a significant change over the 40-year period. Two thirds more species declined than increased. Moths are a key part of the food chain and act as pollinators for plants. The substantial declines revealed by this study provide further evidence of a wider utterfly Conservation warns that Britain’s biodiversity is under threat following analysis of data from the National Moth Recording Scheme (NMRS), which has collated more than 16 million moth sightings dating back to 1769.

Plans to make farming more environmentally friendly through reform of the CAP could actually make Europe’s environment worse, according to a study by leading conservationists. The damning report by researchers and conservation groups across Europe says environmental reforms have become so diluted during the CAP negotiations that they will have no benefit on farmland. And without individual action by member states, biodiversity would continue to decline across the continent, it says. Published in the journal Science, conservationists say rules covering to so-called “greening” of the CAP, which includes maintaining grassland, creating ecological focus areas and growing at least three crops on any farm bigger than 30ha, were so vague they were almost useless.

Die neue Gemeinsame Agrarpolitik (GAP) der Europäischen Union wird den Schutz der biologischen Vielfalt nicht verbessern, sondern sogar weiter verschlechtern.
Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt eine internationale Studie unter Leitung des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Umweltforschung (UFZ), die in der aktuellen Ausgabe des renommierten Wissenschaftsmagazins SCIENCE erschienen ist. Die Wissenschaftler hatten dazu die Änderungen in der Gesetzgebung analysiert sowie mit Daten des Statistischen Amtes der Europäischen Union (Eurostat) verglichen, um herauszufinden, was die reformierte Agrarpolitik tatsächlich bewirken wird. Koautoren der Studie stammen von den Universitäten Hohenheim und Freiburg sowie aus den USA, Großbritannien, der Schweiz, Ungarn, den Niederlanden, Belgien, Israel und Frankreich.

Im Rahmen des ORF-Schwerpunkts "Mutter Erde braucht dich" ließ die österreichische Umweltschutzorganisation GLOBAL 2000 insgesamt 75 Wasserproben aus 42 Fließgewässern, neun Hausbrunnen und drei öffentlichen Leitungsnetzen an der Lebensmittelversuchsanstalt (LVA) Klosterneuburg auf Pestizide untersuchen. Die jeweils größten Flüsse der Bundesländer, sieben Messpunkte vom Wulka-Ursprung bis zur Mündung in den Neusiedlersee sowie drei Trinkwasserproben wurden zusätzlich am Umweltbundesamt Wien, dem wissenschaftlichen Partner von "Mutter Erde braucht dich", mithilfe des dort entwickelten "Indikatorentests" auf Abwassereinträge aus dem Haushalt sowie auf Weichmacher (sog. Phthalate) untersucht. Regional unterschiedliche, teilweise sehr hohe Pestizidbelastungen In 22 der 42 stichprobenartig untersuchten österreichischen Flüsse wurden insgesamt 60 verschiedene Pestizide nachgewiesen. 15 davon gelten als hormonell wirksame Chemikalien, die u.a. mit Missbildungen bei Fischen und Amphibien in Zusammenhang gebracht werden.

The once-endangered California brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is in trouble again. The number of breeding pelicans has plunged drastically. An annual survey completed last month looked at breeding colonies in Mexico's Gulf of California, where 90 percent of the population nests. It found that this year, areas that typically host hundreds or thousands of nesting pairs sometimes held none at all, according to a statement Monday from the University of California, Davis. The California brown pelican was declared an endangered species in 1970 after being pushed to the brink of extinction by the pesticide DDT. It rebounded by 2009 but last year scientists said many birds were starving because their food supply — sardines — had crashed.