Fig. 3
SPEARpesticides indicates pesticide pollution in tropical streams of Western Kenya. Pesticide pollution was quantified as the maximum toxic unit (TUmax, restricted to ≥ 10–4) out of 30 pesticides measured in water samples collected during the rainy season but not during peak exposure. Freshwater macroinvertebrates were identified to the family level. (a) Application of the European SPEARpesticides index v. 2019.11 from Knillmann et al. [37] to the Kenyan samples, R2 = 0.43, F = 8.15, df = 1, res. df = 11, p = 0.016, intercept = 0.62, slope = − 0.37. (b) Application of the SPEARpesticides index after adaption to East African streams. R2 = 0.53, F = 12.35, df = 1, res. df = 11, p = 0.005, intercept = − 0.02, slope = − 0.43