19
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 19, 2025) In Global Ecology and Conservation, a study of bat species in organic desert date palm plantations highlights the invaluable ecosystem services these beneficial organisms provide. “Bats are crucial in suppressing pest arthropods in agroecosystems, contributing vitally to sustainable agriculture,” the study authors share, which makes supporting bat populations important not just for biodiversity but to help enhance their roles in pest management.   There are various studies connecting organic agriculture and the value it provides for bats and their ecosystem services. (See studies here, here, and here.) While many studies also recognize bat species threatened by pesticides, habitat loss, and climate change, “the importance of bats in agriculture in extreme environments, such as deserts, has received far less attention,” the researchers state. (See previous coverage on pesticide exposure and bats here and here.) They continue, “Date palm plantations represent one of the few productive systems in hyper-arid regions,” noting the study’s novel design. The date palm, primarily grown throughout the Middle East and North Africa, is one of the earliest domesticated fruit trees. “The date palm cultivation’s monocultural nature increases susceptibility to pest infestations due to limited plant diversity, involving 112 mite and insect species.” […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Bats, Beneficials, Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, Pollinators, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 1 Comment »
05
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 5, 2025) A study in PLOS One finds acute and chronic impacts of nontarget toxicity on the American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus, with neonicotinoid insecticide exposure. In assessing environmentally relevant concentrations of the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid with N. americanus, the researchers note both mortality and behavioral effects that leave the species at high risk of predation. These effects mean the American burying beetle “may be at greater risk to insecticide exposure than previously thought and vulnerable to episodic, low-dose neonicotinoid exposure,” the authors say. This data sheds important light on a species that has been listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as threatened. Burying beetles provide important ecosystem services within the environment such as “burying carrion, increasing available nutrients in soil, and expediting carrion decomposition, while acting as a food source for secondary consumers,” the researchers state. (See more on ecosystem services and beneficial insects here, here, and here.) The N. americanus species are habitat generalists and can be found in grasslands, wet meadows, and forested areas that neighbor agricultural lands and introduce the beetles to pesticide drift and soil residues. While acute and chronic effects vary in duration and severity, pesticide exposure resulting […]
Posted in behavioral and cognitive effects, Beneficials, Death, Ecosystem Services, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Imidacloprid, Pesticide Drift, Pesticide Residues, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 1 Comment »
03
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 3, 2025) Pesticides that are sprayed and become airborne significantly disrupt ecological balances and affect nontarget species that are crucial for maintaining biodiversity, according to an article in Environmental Pollution. In this review of studies throughout countries in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, among others, researchers from Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Poland reinforce the science about pesticides’ direct effect on species and the cascading effects of pesticide drift through various trophic levels within food webs that lead to overall devasting population effects. This study “addresses the interconnectedness of these impacts and illustrates the complex threats that pesticide drift poses to biodiversity across multiple ecosystems,” the researchers state. They continue: “Impacts include reduced reproductive rates, changes in growth, development, and/or behavior, modification of diversity or community organization, disruption of food webs, and declines of important species. Pesticides disrupt the delicate balance between species that define a functioning ecosystem. Impacts can be local, transnational, or even continental.” Pesticide drift threatens beneficial species and subsequently the entire agricultural system. The process of pesticide drift, “in which up to 25% of applied pesticides are carried by air currents, can transport chemicals over hundreds or even thousands of […]
Posted in 2,4-D, Alternatives/Organics, Beneficials, Biodiversity, Dicamba, Drift, Ecosystem Services, Glyphosate, Pesticide Drift, Pollinators, soil health, Soil microbiome | 1 Comment »
20
Dec
Image: Art Page submission from Carol Moyer, “Monarch Butterfly Sideways with Closed Wings.“ (Beyond Pesticides, December 20, 2024) On December 12, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) opened a public comment period on its proposal to list the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) as a threatened species and to designate critical habitats for the species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Under the proposal, the designated habitats would span approximately 4,395 acres throughout overwintering sites in coastal California. The public comment period will be open until March 12, 2025. These suggested protections call attention to the role of chemical-intensive agriculture in affecting populations of pollinators and other beneficial organisms. George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety, shares in a press release that the “monarch listing decision is a landmark victory 10 years in the making. It is also a damning precedent, revealing the driving role of pesticides and industrial agriculture in the ongoing extinction crisis… But the job isn’t done: Monarchs still face an onslaught of pesticides. The Service must do what science and the law require and promptly finalize protection for monarchs.” In the docket, FWS states, “Under the Act, a species warrants listing if […]
Posted in Beneficials, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species Act (ESA), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Habitat Protection, Pollinators, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 1 Comment »
10
Sep
(Beyond Pesticides, September 10, 2024) Results from a natural experiment, published in Science, shows ecosystem disruption of bat populations with cascading impacts on human health. Eyal Frank, PhD, an assistant professor of the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, links increased insecticide use in croplands in the absence of bat species to a rise in infant mortality. As Dr. Frank says in an article in Science Daily, “[B]ats do add value to society in their role as natural pesticides, and this study shows that their decline can be harmful to humans.” Many farmers rely on bats as alternatives to pesticides to protect their crops from insects, but White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) has greatly impacted bat populations since 2006. With the collapse of many bat populations in counties in North America, these farmers turn to toxic chemicals to replace the ecosystem services bats usually provide. These chemicals, however, lead to ripples through the ecosystem and endanger human health. WNS is an invasive fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) found in caves that affects bats during hibernation. As highlighted in an article in the New York Times, three species of bats in North America have been decimated by this syndrome, and bats […]
Posted in Bats, Beneficials, Biodiversity, Death, Disease/Health Effects, Ecosystem Services, Pollinators, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
