Insecticiden

If you look just at the numbers, you might think autism rates are spiraling out of control. The rates seemed high enough at 1 in 150 in 2000, when public health officials started tracking a steady rise in the syndrome in the United States. And by the time estimates finally flatlined in 2012 at 1 in 68, many parents had embraced unfounded theories blaming vaccines for an autism “epidemic,” helping to fuel outbreaks of measles and other once rare diseases.

— Pestizide aus der Klasse der Neonikotinoide stellen weltweit ernsthafte Bedrohungen für Ökosysteme dar. Dies zeigen neue Informationen, die in einem Update zur weltweit umfassendsten wissenschaftlichen Überprüfung der ökologischen Auswirkungen von systemischen Pestiziden enthalten sind.

It was only in 2015 that the US Geological Survey first studied whether neonicotinoid residue shows up in streams (it does), and new research from the University of Iowa is the first to find it in drinking water. This new study tested water from drinking taps throughout Iowa City for neonicotinoid presence. Iowa City is on the smaller side, with an estimated population of fewer than 75,000, but its presence in a largely agricultural state makes it well-placed to see how nearby pesticide use can affect an urban area.

Sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chicken hunters can again this year voluntarily submit samples for study by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Ongoing DNR research is assessing prairie grouse exposure to chemicals called neonicotinoids. These are pesticides that, once applied, can move throughout a plant. Neonicotinoids are commonly applied to seeds before planting.

“We’re into our third year of this study assessing whether prairie grouse have been exposed to neonicotinoids by eating treated seeds or other ways,” said Charlotte Roy, DNR grouse project leader.

Neonicotinoid pesticides pose severe threats to ecosystems worldwide, according to new information contained in an update to the world’s most comprehensive scientific review of the ecological impacts of systemic pesticides. The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides (TFSP) released the second edition of its Worldwide Integrated Assessment of the Effects of Systemic Pesticides on Biodiversity and Ecosystems today in Ottawa, Canada. It synthesizes more than 500 studies since 2014, including some industry-sponsored studies.

Vom sommerlichen Brummen und Summen auf den Wiesen ist nur ein schwaches Echo geblieben. Die Insekten sind verstummt. Umso lauter schlägt der Kirchheimer Vogelkundler Wulf Gatter Alarm. Der Wissenschaftler führt an seiner Beobachtungsstation am Randecker Maar nicht nur Buch über die alljährlich nach Süden fliegenden Vögel, sondern dokumentiert auch seit dem Jahr 1972 den herbstlichen Zug der Schmetterlinge und Schwebfliegen. „Was wir hier am Albrand feststellen, ist eine dramatische Entwicklung“, sagt er.

Eine der größten Tierwanderungen könnte womöglich bereits in wenigen Jahren für immer vorbei sein: US-Wissenschafter stellten fest, dass die Population des westlichen Monarchfalters in Amerika dramatisch geschrumpft ist. Setzt sich der Trend fort, könnte es diese Schmetterlingsart zumindest an der Westküste der USA nicht mehr lange geben. Jedes Jahr wandern mehrere Millionen Monarchfalter vom Osten der Vereinigten Staaten in ihr Winterquartier im mexikanischen Hochland.

The monarch butterfly populations in western North America have declined dramatically and face a greater risk of extinction, a new study shows. Scientists at Washington State University found that the decline in western monarch butterfly populations was significantly more than previously believed and greater than eastern monarchs. “Western monarchs are faring worse than their eastern counterparts,” Cheryl Schultz, an associate professor at Washington State University Vancouver, said in a press release. “In the 1980s, 10 million monarchs spent the winter in coastal California.