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Research Article

Agricultural insecticides threaten surface waters at the global scale

Sebastian Stehle and Ralf Schulz
PNAS first published April 13, 2015 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1500232112
Sebastian Stehle
Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, D-76829 Landau, Germany
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Ralf Schulz
Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, D-76829 Landau, Germany
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  • For correspondence: schulz@uni-landau.de
  1. Edited by Jules M. Blais, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, and accepted by the Editorial Board March 13, 2015 (received for review January 6, 2015)

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Significance

Agricultural systems are drivers of global environmental degradation. Insecticides, in particular, are highly biologically active substances that can threaten the ecological integrity of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Despite widespread insecticide application to croplands worldwide, no comprehensive field data-based evaluation of their risk to global surface waters exists. Our data show, for the first time to our knowledge at the global scale, that more than 50% of detected insecticide concentrations (n = 11,300) exceed regulatory threshold levels. This finding indicates that surface water pollution resulting from current agricultural insecticide use constitutes an excessive threat to aquatic biodiversity. Overall, our analysis suggests that fundamental revisions of current regulatory procedures and pesticide application practices are needed to reverse the global environmental impacts of agrochemical-based high-intensity agriculture.

Abstract

Compared with nutrient levels and habitat degradation, the importance of agricultural pesticides in surface water may have been underestimated due to a lack of comprehensive quantitative analysis. Increasing pesticide contamination results in decreasing regional aquatic biodiversity, i.e., macroinvertebrate family richness is reduced by ∼30% at pesticide concentrations equaling the legally accepted regulatory threshold levels (RTLs). This study provides a comprehensive metaanalysis of 838 peer-reviewed studies (>2,500 sites in 73 countries) that evaluates, for the first time to our knowledge on a global scale, the exposure of surface waters to particularly toxic agricultural insecticides. We tested whether measured insecticide concentrations (MICs; i.e., quantified insecticide concentrations) exceed their RTLs and how risks depend on insecticide development over time and stringency of environmental regulation. Our analysis reveals that MICs occur rarely (i.e., an estimated 97.4% of analyses conducted found no MICs) and there is a complete lack of scientific monitoring data for ∼90% of global cropland. Most importantly, of the 11,300 MICs, 52.4% (5,915 cases; 68.5% of the sites) exceeded the RTL for either surface water (RTLSW) or sediments. Thus, the biological integrity of global water resources is at a substantial risk. RTLSW exceedances depend on the catchment size, sampling regime, and sampling date; are significantly higher for newer-generation insecticides (i.e., pyrethroids); and are high even in countries with stringent environmental regulations. These results suggest the need for worldwide improvements to current pesticide regulations and agricultural pesticide application practices and for intensified research efforts on the presence and effects of pesticides under real-world conditions.

  • global surface waters
  • insecticide contamination
  • agriculture
  • regulatory risk assessment
  • biodiversity

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: schulz{at}uni-landau.de.
  • Author contributions: S.S. and R.S. designed research; S.S. and R.S. performed research; S.S. compiled the data; S.S. analyzed data; and S.S. and R.S. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. J.M.B. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.

  • Data deposition: The data reported in this paper have been deposited at math.uni-landau.de/ecotox/publications/stehleandschulz2015.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1500232112/-/DCSupplemental.

Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.

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Insecticide contamination of global surface waters
Sebastian Stehle, Ralf Schulz
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2015, 201500232; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1500232112

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Insecticide contamination of global surface waters
Sebastian Stehle, Ralf Schulz
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2015, 201500232; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1500232112
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