Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117262
Title (Primary) Pesticides are the dominant stressors for vulnerable insects in lowland streams
Author Liess, M.; Liebmann, L.; Vormeier, P.; Weisner, O.; Altenburger, R.; Borchardt, D.; Brack, W.; Chatzinotas, A.; Escher, B.; Foit, K.; Gunold, R.; Henz, S.; Hitzfeld, K.L.; Schmitt-Jansen, M.; Kamjunke, N.; Kaske, O.; Knillmann, S.; Krauss, M. ORCID logo ; Küster, E.; Link, M.; Lück, M.; Möder, M.; Müller, A.; Paschke, A.; Schäfer, R.B.; Schneeweiss, A.; Schreiner, V.C.; Schulze, T. ORCID logo ; Schüürmann, G.; von Tümpling, W. ORCID logo ; Weitere, M.; Wogram, J.; Reemtsma, T.
Source Titel Water Research
Year 2021
Department OEC; BIOTOX; ASAM; UMB; FLOEK; WANA; ANA; ZELLTOX; OEKOTOX
Volume 201
Page From art. 117262
Language englisch
Topic T9 Healthy Planet
T5 Future Landscapes
T7 Bioeconomy
Keywords Biodiversity crisis; Multiple stressors; Agricultural pesticides; Ecosystem monitoring; Pesticide regulation
UFZ wide themes MOSES;
Abstract Despite elaborate regulation of agricultural pesticides, their occurrence in non-target areas has been linked to adverse ecological effects on insects in several field investigations. Their quantitative role in contributing to the biodiversity crisis is, however, still not known. In a large-scale study across 101 sites of small lowland streams in Central Europe we revealed that 83% of agricultural streams did not meet the pesticide-related ecological targets. For the first time we identified that agricultural nonpoint-source pesticide pollution was the major driver in reducing vulnerable insects in aquatic invertebrate communities, exceeding the relevance of other anthropogenic stressors such as poor hydro-morphological structure. We revealed that the current authorisation of pesticides, which aims to prevent adverse effects, underestimates the actual ecological risk as (i) measured pesticide concentrations exceeded current regulatory threshold levels in 81% of the agricultural streams investigated, (ii) for several pesticides the inertia of the authorisation process impedes the incorporation of new scientific knowledge and (iii) existing thresholds of invertebrate toxicity drivers are not protective by a factor of 5.3 to 40. To provide more reliable thresholds, the authorization process needs to include monitoring-derived information on pesticide effects at the ecosystem level. Here, we derive thresholds that ensure a protection of the invertebrate stream community.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=24691
Liess, M., Liebmann, L., Vormeier, P., Weisner, O., Altenburger, R., Borchardt, D., Brack, W., Chatzinotas, A., Escher, B., Foit, K., Gunold, R., Henz, S., Hitzfeld, K.L., Schmitt-Jansen, M., Kamjunke, N., Kaske, O., Knillmann, S., Krauss, M., Küster, E., Link, M., Lück, M., Möder, M., Müller, A., Paschke, A., Schäfer, R.B., Schneeweiss, A., Schreiner, V.C., Schulze, T., Schüürmann, G., von Tümpling, W., Weitere, M., Wogram, J., Reemtsma, T. (2021):
Pesticides are the dominant stressors for vulnerable insects in lowland streams
Water Res. 201 , art. 117262 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117262