Pesticides reduce regional biodiversity of stream invertebrates

Mikhail A. Beketov, Ben J. Kefford, Ralf B. Schäfer, and Matthias Liess
PNAS published ahead of print June 17, 2013 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1305618110

  1. Edited by David Pimentel, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and accepted by the Editorial Board May 13, 2013 (received for review March 25, 2013)

Abstract

The biodiversity crisis is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity, but our understanding of the drivers remains limited. Thus, after decades of studies and regulation efforts, it remains unknown whether to what degree and at what concentrations modern agricultural pesticides cause regional-scale species losses. We analyzed the effects of pesticides on the regional taxa richness of stream invertebrates in Europe (Germany and France) and Australia (southern Victoria). Pesticides caused statistically significant effects on both the species and family richness in both regions, with losses in taxa up to 42% of the recorded taxonomic pools. Furthermore, the effects in Europe were detected at concentrations that current legislation considers environmentally protective. Thus, the current ecological risk assessment of pesticides falls short of protecting biodiversity, and new approaches linking ecology and ecotoxicology are needed.

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mikhail.beketov{at}ufz.de.

  • Author contributions: M.A.B. and B.J.K. designed research; M.A.B., R.B.S., and M.L. performed research; M.A.B. and B.J.K. analyzed data; and M.A.B. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. D.P. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1305618110/-/DCSupplemental.

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Pesticides reduce biodiversity
Mikhail A. Beketov, Ben J. Kefford, Ralf B. Schäfer, Matthias Liess
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 2013, 201305618; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1305618110
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