Overview - Monitoring of Small Streams

German Monitoring of Plant Protection Products in Small Streams

The mostly insufficient ecological status of surface waters is most often explained by habitat degradation and excessive nutrient input. But what role do plant protection products play in this context? In the Monitoring of Small Streams (Kleingewässermonitoring - KgM), the influence of plant protection products on small and medium-sized streams and resulting ecological impacts are investigated on a globally unique scale.

- Project Report -

The project's final report is now published as UBA TEXT also featuring an english summary of the main findings.

- Peer-reviewed Publications -

"Pesticides Are the Dominant Stressors for Vulnerable Insects in Lowland Streams" reveals the high relevance of pesticides for the ecological status of these small streams and identifies weaknesses in the current risk assessment of pesticides.

"Small Streams – Large Concentrations? Pesticide Monitoring in Small Agricultural Streams in Germany During Dry Weather and Rainfall" analyses the periodic occurrence of pesticides in the small streams studied.

"Three reasons why the Water Framework Directive (WFD) fails to identify pesticide risks" investigates to what extent regulatory monitoring according to the Water Framework Directive is able to assess the ecological risk of pesticides in surface waters.

Project Coordination:

Prof. Dr. Matthias Liess
Department of System-Ecotoxicology