{"id":31728,"date":"2022-10-14T00:01:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T04:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=31728"},"modified":"2022-10-13T17:55:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T21:55:35","slug":"study-documents-aggregate-insecticide-load-for-pollinators-in-real-world-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/10\/study-documents-aggregate-insecticide-load-for-pollinators-in-real-world-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Documents Aggregate Insecticide Load for Pollinators in Real-World Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>. October 14, 2022)\u00a0A team of researchers has taken on the challenge of integrating data from multiple and disparate sources in order to devise tools with which scientists can evaluate<\/a> pollinator pesticide exposures and impacts more effectively at \u201clandscape scale\u201d (and at real-life exposure levels). Accessing data that are useful and relevant at this landscape level has been a significant problem for researchers and conservationists. This \u201czoomed out\u201d view is critical because pollinators are highly mobile across thousands of meters of foraging area. A functional understanding of the risks pollinators encounter in their territories requires integrated data at this level, as opposed to the large geographic areas across which pesticide use is typically tracked. The team\u2019s paper on their work \u2014 Putting pesticides on the map for pollinator research and conservation \u2014 <\/em>was published in Nature.com<\/em> in mid-September<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

Pollinators are essential to healthy ecosystems and to a third of human food sources, as well as to plants used for commercial seed production. As the authors note<\/a>, nearly 90% of flowering plant species benefit from the services of pollinators that help plants set their seeds and produce flowers and fruit (this last term includes foods widely considered to be \u201cvegetables<\/a>,\u201d but which are the product of pollination). But for years, pollinators and insects broadly have been in dramatic decline<\/a>, making worse the biodiversity crisis<\/a> we face globally.<\/p>\r\n

Pesticides are a chief driver of pollinator decline<\/a>, along with habitat fragmentation and loss caused by human development and encroachment; these drivers are, according to the study authors, most documented for honey bees (including managed colonies), wild bees, and butterflies. The loss of appropriate habitat reduces food and nesting resources for these populations, and pesticide exposures can outright kill pollinators or lead to behavioral, immunological, and\/or reproductive impacts. In addition, herbicide use can mitigate against pollinator health by reducing their plant food sources. Neonicotinoid and organophosphate insecticides<\/a> are among the worst pesticides for these and other insect populations \u2014 and are commonly used; see here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

The coauthors explain their mission<\/a>: \u201cScientists\u2019 and conservationists\u2019 ability to [evaluate pollinator decline] has been limited by a lack of accessible data on pesticide use at relevant spatial scales and in toxicological units meaningful to pollinators. Here, we synthesize information from several large, publicly available datasets on pesticide use patterns, land use, and toxicity to generate novel datasets describing pesticide use by active ingredient . . . and aggregate insecticide load . . . for state\u2013crop combinations in the contiguous U.S. Furthermore, by linking pesticide datasets with land-use data, we describe a method to map pesticide indicators at spatial scales relevant to pollinator research and conservation.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The datasets they have created include these<\/a>, for 10 major crops (or crop groups) in each of the 48 contiguous U.S. states.<\/p>\r\n