General

Bees and butterflies are experiencing widespread population decline, creating public concern in recent years. Data collected in Germany suggest that it’s not just bees and butterflies at risk: insect populations overall have plummeted by more than 75 percent since 1989. Scientists have known about the population decline for several years. However, they didn’t know how many species were declining, and they didn’t expect it to be happening so fast.

Initial assessments that considered these insecticides harmless to aquatic organisms may have led to a relaxation of monitoring efforts, resulting in the worldwide contamination of many aquatic ecosystems with neonicotinoids. The decline of many populations of invertebrates, due mostly to the widespread presence of waterborne residues and the extreme chronic toxicity of neonicotinoids, is affecting the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. Consequently, vertebrates that depend on insects and other aquatic invertebrates as their sole or main food resource are being affected.

Viele heimische Vogelarten sind stark bedroht. Und das, obwohl es bis vor 30 oder 40 Jahren teilweise noch sehr große Bestände gab. Eine Hauptursache für den Rückgang der Tiere sei die intensivierte Landwirtschaft, so Vogelexperte Peter Berthold. Wir stellen fünf Vögel vor , die in Baden-Württemberg bedroht sind.

Henk Tennekes refers to last century’s fifties, wherein the Germans Hermann Druckrey (1904-1994) and his friend, Chemistry Nobel laureate (1939) Adolf Butenand (1903-1995), advocated in the international community for a risk-prevention policy of dose-effect research for all pesticides. They wanted to prevent irreversible effects of pesticides. On the other hand there was the French René Truhaut, who advocated for the acceptable daily intake as the risk-management strategy for pesticide allowance for practical use.

Neonicotinoid pesticides pose severe threats to ecosystems worldwide, according to new information contained in an update to the world’s most comprehensive scientific review of the ecological impacts of systemic pesticides. The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides (TFSP) released the second edition of its Worldwide Integrated Assessment of the Effects of Systemic Pesticides on Biodiversity and Ecosystems today in Ottawa, Canada. It synthesizes more than 500 studies since 2014, including some industry-sponsored studies.

Vom sommerlichen Brummen und Summen auf den Wiesen ist nur ein schwaches Echo geblieben. Die Insekten sind verstummt. Umso lauter schlägt der Kirchheimer Vogelkundler Wulf Gatter Alarm. Der Wissenschaftler führt an seiner Beobachtungsstation am Randecker Maar nicht nur Buch über die alljährlich nach Süden fliegenden Vögel, sondern dokumentiert auch seit dem Jahr 1972 den herbstlichen Zug der Schmetterlinge und Schwebfliegen. „Was wir hier am Albrand feststellen, ist eine dramatische Entwicklung“, sagt er.