Insecticides

In weiten Teilen Deutschlands ist die Insektenpopulation um bis zu 80 Prozent eingebrochen. Vor allem Wildbienen, Hummeln, Schwedfliegen sowie den Tag- und Nachtfaltern drohe das schleichende Aus, mahnt Thomas Mitschke. „Allein die Rote Liste der Bienen umfasst 300 Arten.“ Der Vorsitzende des Naturschutzbundes Lüneburg ist Hummel-, Wespen- und Hornissenbeauftragter für Stadt und Landkreis Lüneburg.

At least 45 lochs around Scotland’s coast have been contaminated by toxic pesticides from fish farms that can harm wildlife and human health, according to data released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa). Levels of chemicals used to kill the sea lice that plague caged salmon have breached environmental safety limits more than a hundred times in the last 10 years. The chemicals have been discharged by 70 fish farms run by seven companies.

Pesticide residue from rice polders and nutrient discharge from urban settlements are aggravating the pollution of Vembanad Lake, playing havoc with the fragile wetland ecosystem and jeopardising its tourism potential. A study conducted by the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Kumarakom, under Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), has reported a high level of eutrophication of the lake, a Ramsar site and the hub of backwater tourism in Kerala. Data collected by the environmental surveillance centre at RARS indicate that the organic pollution of the lake is getting worse.

Sir John Beddington is Senior Advisor and Professor of Natural Resources Management at the Oxford Martin School in Oxford, UK. He also belongs to the Central Team of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations (OMC) and is former Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government and Head of the Government Office for Science.

Die Zahl der Singvögel im Vogtland geht zurück. Das sagt Michael Thoß, Naturschützer und Ornithologe aus Auerbach. Damit bestätigt er Aussagen, die die Teilnehmer der Vogelhaus-Aktion von "Freie Presse" gemacht haben. Sie haben beobachtet, dass weniger Gäste an die Futterstellen fliegen. Ursachen für den fehlenden Flugbetrieb hat der Ornithologe mehrere ausgemacht: "Grünfinken sind seit zwei Jahren von einer Pilzkrankheit, dem Gelben Kropf oder Gelben Knopf betroffen, an der viele Tiere sterben." Die Pilzerkrankung zerfrisst die Rachenschleimhaut.

Unfortunately the common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) isn’t all that common anymore. From May until September, Canada hosts an estimated 900,000 of them, coming here to nest before their long trip to South America where they wait out the winter. But we used to harbour considerably more back in the day. From 1973 through 2012 it’s been estimated their population plummeted some 76 per cent, and by no means has that trend slowed down. Those 900,000, estimated as such in 2013, are merely the survivors of a nation-wide decline.

Biologen der Universität Regensburg untersuchten in einer Studie die Wirkung des Insektizids Imidacloprid auf parasitische Wespen, die andere Insekten parasitieren und so quasi als natürliche Schädlingsbekämpfer dienen. Sie fanden heraus, dass selbst geringste Mengen des Wirkstoffes die Wahrnehmung von chemischen Signalen bei den Insekten stören, so dass sie nicht mehr in der Lage sind, Paarungspartner und Wirte für die Eiablage zu finden.

Farmland covers 45% of the EU’s land area and these habitats are rocketing towards biodiversity oblivion. We cannot afford to mince our words here, the situation is very serious and requires both monitoring and action. The European Bird Census Council (EBCC), where many BirdLife partners play a key role, has been coordinating the collation of data on more than 160 common bird species across 28 European countries. The data collected is fundamental to understanding the future of European biodiversity – and the forecasts are alarming.

Agricultural intensification is an important anthropogenic perturbation of the environment. It is characterized by a specialization of the production process, which results in a switch from diverse plantations to large monocultures. Agricultural intensification is also associated with increased use of pesticides, harvest frequency, and density of plantations in cultivated areas. This type of practice is linked to the population decline of several bird species in Europe and North America.