WORLDWIDE INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF SYSTEMIC PESTICIDES ON BIODIVERSITYAND ECOSYSTEMS Environmental fate and exposure; neonicotinoids and fipronil

Systemic insecticides are applied to plants using a wide variety of methods, ranging from foliar sprays to seed treatments and soil drenches. Neonicotinoids and fipronil are among the most widely used pesticides in the world. Their popularity is largely due to their high toxicity to invertebrates, the ease and flexibility with which they can be applied, their long persistence, and their systemic nature, which ensures that they spread to all parts of the target crop. However, these properties also increase the probability of environmental contamination and exposure of nontarget organisms. Environmental contamination occurs via a number of routes including dust generated during drilling of dressed seeds, contamination and accumulation in arable soils and soil water, runoff into waterways, and uptake of pesticides by nontarget plants via their roots or dust deposition on leaves. Persistence in soils, waterways, and nontarget plants is variable but can be prolonged; for example, the half-lives of neonicotinoids in soils can exceed 1,000 days, so they can accumulate when used repeatedly. Similarly, they can persist in woody plants for periods exceeding 1 year. Breakdown results in toxic metabolites, though concentrations of these in the environment are rarely measured. Overall, there is strong evidence that soils, waterways, and plants in agricultural environments and neighboring areas are contaminated with variable levels of Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues J.<M. Bonmatin (*) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, Rue Charles Sadron, 45071 Orléans cedex 02, France e-mail: bonmatin@cnrs-orleans.fr C. Giorio Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, CB2 1EW Cambridge, UK V. Girolami :M. Marzaro Dipartimento di Agronomia Animali Alimenti Risorse Naturali e Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Padova, Agripolis, viale dell’ Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy D. Goulson School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Sussex BN1 9QG, UK D. P. Kreutzweiser Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, 1219 Queen Street East, Sault Ste Marie, ON, Canada P6A 2E5 C. Krupke : E. Long Department of Entomology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2089, USA M. Liess Department of System-Ecotoxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, 04318 Leipzig, Germany E. A. D. Mitchell Laboratory of Soil Biology, University of Neuchatel, Rue Emile Argand 11, 2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland E. A. D. Mitchell Jardin Botanique de Neuchâtel, Chemin du Perthuis-du-Sault 58, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland D. A. Noome Task Force on Systemic Pesticides, Pertuis-du-Sault, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland D. A. Noome Kijani, Kasungu National Park, Private Bag 151, Lilongwe, Malawi N. Simon-Delso Environmental Sciences, Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands A. Tapparo Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università degli Studi di Padova, via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy Environ Sci Pollut Res (2015) 22:35–67 DOI 10.1007/s11356-014-3332-7