Contamination of wild plants near neonicotinoid seed-treated crops, and implications for non-target insects

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2016-10, Vol.566-567, p.269-278
• Main Authors: Botías, Cristina, David, Arthur, Hill, Elizabeth M., Goulson, Dave
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Animals; Brassica napus - chemistry; Conservation of Natural Resources; England; Environmental contamination; Environmental Monitoring; Field margins; Insecta - drug effects; Insecticides - adverse effects; Insecticides - analysis; Neonicotinoid insecticides; Neonicotinoids - adverse effects; Neonicotinoids - analysis; Non-target invertebrates; Plant Leaves - chemistry; Plants - chemistry
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.065

Neonicotinoid insecticides are commonly-used as seed treatments on flowering crops such as oilseed rape. Their persistence and solubility in water increase the chances of environmental contamination via surface-runoff or drainage into areas adjacent to the crops. However, their uptake and fate into non-target vegetation remains poorly understood. In this study, we analysed samples of foliage collected from neonicotinoid seed-treated oilseed rape plants and also compared the levels of neonicotinoid residues in foliage (range: 1.4–11ng/g) with the levels found in pollen collected from the same plants (range: 1.4–22ng/g). We then analysed residue levels in foliage from non-target plants growing in the crop field margins (range: ≤0.02–106ng/g). Finally, in order to assess the possible risk posed by the peak levels of neonicotinoids that we detected in foliage for farmland phytophagous and predatory insects, we compared the maximum concentrations found against the LC50 values reported in the literature for a set of relevant insect species. Our results suggest that neonicotinoid seed-dressings lead to widespread contamination of the foliage of field margin plants with mixtures of neonicotinoid residues, where levels are very variable and discontinuous, but sometimes overlap with lethal concentrations reported for some insect species. Understanding the distribution of pesticides in the environment and their potential effects on biological communities is crucial to properly assess current agricultural management and schemes with biodiversity conservation aims in farmland. [Display omitted] •Seed-coating with neonicotinoids led to contamination of non-target plants, where four different neonicotinoids were detected.•Neonicotinoids levels in wild plants were very variable, but sometimes overlapped with LC50s reported for some insect species.•Thiamethoxam and clothianidin differed in pollen and foliage of the same plant species (Brassica napus L., oilseed rape).