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posted by martyb on Tuesday August 11 2020, @08:39AM   Printer-friendly

Popular Pesticides are Killing Birds, Too:

Neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides chemically related to nicotine, were first introduced to agriculture in the 1980s. They’re most commonly applied to seeds themselves and spread through the plants as they germinate and grow to protect against insects. But they’ve proven to be so harmful to bees and other insect populations that the EU banned their use in 2018. But in the U.S., thanks at least in part to a misinformation campaign on the part of the pesticide industry, there’s been a shift to use more and more of the dangerous chemicals even as the overall use of insecticides has been declining.

[...] Grassland birds (which rely on grassland habitats for nesting) and insectivorous birds (which eat insects, worms, and other invertebrates) saw the steepest impacts. The authors found that an increase of 220 pounds (100 kilograms) in neonicotinoid usage per county was associated with a 2.2% decline in populations of grassland birds and 1.6% in insectivorous birds. Khanna said this was due to birds feeding on both seeds treated with the pesticide as well as eating insects themselves who may have ingested it.

[...] To make matters worse, impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides accumulate, meaning that exposure over a longer period can have more severe implications. [...] For grassland birds, a 220 pound increase in neonicotinoid use per county in 2008 reduced the population of birds by almost 4% that year and cumulatively by 9.7% from 2008 to 2014.

[...] Birds help maintain sustainable population levels of different species, keeping ecosystems in harmony. Many also play an important [role] in plant reproduction because they serve as pollinators and seed dispersers.

Journal Reference:
Yijia Li, Ruiqing Miao, Madhu Khanna. Neonicotinoids and decline in bird biodiversity in the United States [$], Nature Sustainability (DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-0582-x)


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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday August 11 2020, @04:26PM (1 child)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday August 11 2020, @04:26PM (#1034989)

    Unclear on mechanism: is the pesticide injected in the seed and from there diffused throughout the growing plant, or does the poison reprogram the seed - like a virus - to make more of itself as the plant grows?

    Also, is there any profit link whatsoever between the manufacture of these chemicals and the tobacco industry? Great scientists in the tobacco industry, as long as you don't value the sharing of knowledge.

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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday August 11 2020, @04:34PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 11 2020, @04:34PM (#1034994) Journal

    Interesting question - and I don't know the answer. If the quantity of the poison were restricted to whatever is injected into the seed, you really wouldn't have a lot of poison to be distributed throughout a plant that is hundreds of times the size of the seed. But, if the poison is potent enough, I guess that would work.

    I wouldn't even know where to look for answers. All of that data is most certainly hidden inside intellectual property cathedrals.