Title:
Protection of Wild Pollinators in Risk Assessment and Management of Plant Protection Products
Autoren:
Renja Bereswill1, Sarah Betz1,Carsten Brühl2,3, Michael Meller1, Jan Philip Nickel1, Dirk Süßenbach4, Christopher John Topping5, Philipp Uhl3
1 ecotox consult - Dr. Michael Meller - ecotoxicological consulting service, donnersbergweg 1, D-67059 ludwigshafen am rhein, Germany
2 Ecoco GbR, Mainzer Str. 23, 76199 Karlsruhe, Germany
3 Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Im Fort 7, 76829 Landau, Germany
4 Umweltbundesamt, Fachgebiet IV 1.3 – Pflanzenschutzmittel, Wörlitzer Platz 1, 06844 Dessau-Roßlau, Germany
5 Aarhus University, Department of Bioscience, Grenåvej 14, 8410 Rønde, Denmark
Year:
2016
Bibl. details:
Poster at the annual meeting of SETAC GLB and of GDCh FG Umweltchemie und Ökotoxikologie, Tübingen, Deutschland, on September, 5-8, 2016.
Keywords:
wild pollinators, pollinating insects, pesticides, plant protection products, risk assessment, risk management, risk mitigation
Zusammenfassung
Latest research on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes suggests that pollinating insects (especially wild bees and butterflies) are not sufficiently protected from the effects of plant protection products under the current risk assessment and risk management schemes. This might be the result of uncertainties in existing risk assessment practice. For example, among the group of pollinators, only bee species are currently tested for risk assessment. Other taxa of pollinators are not assessed, so far. Moreover, the spatial dynamics of mobile arthropods (such as wild pollinators) which move between non-target area (e.g. buffer strip) and target area (field) are not taken into account. Becoming aware of these uncertainties European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a scientific opinion in 2015 addressing the state of the science on risk assessment of plant protection products for non-target arthropods. The preparation of a respective EFSA guideline is planned for 2017.
The research and development project (FKZ: 3715 64 409 0), funded by the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), aims to provide a basis for the revision of risk assessment and risk management schemes for the protection of wild pollinators from the effects of plant protection products. As part of this project, the current EFSA scientific opinions and draft guidance for the risk assessment of bees and terrestrial non-target arthropods will be reviewed for deficits with respect to the protection of wild pollinators. Furthermore, data on ecology, exposure and toxicological sensitivity of wild pollinators will be collected. Based on this data, ecologically tolerable thresholds will be derived and the relative sensitivity of different groups of wild pollinators in crop-specific landscape scenarios will be determined. Using this information, criteria for the risk assessment scheme on wild pollinating insects as well as recommendations for the improvement of potential risk management options will be developed. The regulatory background and project aims are presented in this poster as well as first findings with respect to risk mitigation measures and their potential to protect wild pollinators from the effects of plant protection products.
