Reducing overall herbicide use may reduce risks to humans but increase toxic loads to honeybees, earthworms and birds

Cech, Ramona M.; Jovanovic, Suzanne; Kegley, Susan; Hertoge, Koen; Leisch, Friedrich; Zaller, Johann G.

doi:10.1186/s12302-022-00622-2

Environmental Sciences Europe

Table 6 Toxic load (TL) assessment of herbicide classes for honeybees (A. mellifera, oral), earthworms (E. fetida) and birds (S. serinus), TL share of herbicide class for each organism, change 2010 vs 2019 and parameters from linear models testing changes of toxic loads, P-values in bold if significant, arrows indicate the direction of the change

From: Reducing overall herbicide use may reduce risks to humans but increase toxic loads to honeybees, earthworms and birds

Chemical class	Species	TL share 2019 (%)	Change 2010–19 (%)	R²	F-value		P-value
Amides and anilides	Honeybee	0.4	11	0.06	0.47	0.510
	Earthworms	1.0	13	0.14	1.33	0.283
	Birds	0.1	15	0.12	1.10	0.326
Carbamates and biscarbamates	Honeybee	< 0.1	− 43	0.58	10.98	0.011	↓
Carbamates and biscarbamates	Earthworms	0.2	− 41	0.56	10.09	0.013	↓
	Birds	< 0.1	− 43	0.62	13.27	0.007	↓
Phenoxy-phytohormones	Honeybee	0.1	− 64	0.62	12.96	0.007	↓
	Earthworms	0.3	− 35	0.08	0.71	0.425
	Birds	0.2	− 26	0.00	0.02	0.883
Triazines and triazinones	Honeybee	0.6	− 10	0.24	2.51	0.152
	Earthworms	0.7	− 8	0.21	2.08	0.188
	Birds	0.1	3	0.03	0.25	0.629
Organophosphates	Honeybee	0.4	− 39	0.36	4.56	0.065
	Earthworms	0.1	− 55	0.48	7.44	0.026	↓
	Birds	0.1	− 42	0.39	5.15	0.053
Ureas, uracils and sulfonylureas	Honeybee	0.3	149	0.74	22.87	0.001	↑
Ureas, uracils and sulfonylureas	Earthworms	0.2	30	0.18	1.74	0.223
	Birds	0.2	280	0.67	16.57	0.004	↑
Dinitroanilines	Honeybee	0.4	− 27	0.15	1.25	0.300
	Earthworms	0.3	− 27	0.15	1.25	0.300
	Birds	0.2	− 27	0.15	1.25	0.300
Benzoic acids	Honeybee	< 0.1	− 16	0.39	5.15	0.053
	Earthworms	< 0.1	− 16	0.39	5.15	0.053
	Birds	< 0.1	− 16	0.39	5.15	0.053
Diphenyl ethers	Honeybee	0.2	^a18	0.49	6.62	0.037	↑
	Earthworms	0.9	^a240	0.73	19.00	0.003	↑
	Birds	< 0.1	^a− 23	0.60	10.70	0.014	↓
Bipyridyliums	Honeybee	92.6	646	0.65	15.08	0.005	↑
	Earthworms	94.9	646	0.65	15.08	0.005	↑
	Birds	97.3	646	0.65	15.08	0.005	↑
Thiocarbamates	Honeybee	< 0.1	109	0.71	19.65	0.002	↑
	Earthworms	0.3	118	0.72	20.39	0.002	↑
	Birds	0.0	102	0.70	19.06	0.002	↑
Inorganic herbicides	Honeybee	4.7	187	0.67	16.54	0.004	↑
	Earthworms	0.9	187	0.67	16.54	0.004	↑
	Birds	1.7	187	0.67	16.54	0.004	↑
Other herbicides	Honeybee	0.2	− 20	0.63	13.51	0.006	↓
	Earthworms	0.2	− 41	0.83	40.05	< 0.001	↓
	Birds	< 0.1	− 75	0.87	51.24	< 0.001	↓

^a% change from 2011 to 2019, because in 2010 amounts of diphenyl ether were missing

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