Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Populations of insectivorous farmland and wetland birds have declined severely throughout North America and Europe and several studies point to agricultural intensification and the increasing use of pesticides as major contributing factors. Indirect effects of pesticides, operating through the food chain, have been proposed as a possible causal factor in the decline of farmland bird species. A relatively new class of systemic insecticides, the neonicotinoids, were first registered in Canada between 1998-2003 and are now widely used in the Prairie region for treatment of seeds for canola and other oilseeds, cereal crops and corn among other pest control applications. Use of neonicotinoids worldwide is currently increasing faster than other insecticides including carbamates, organophosphates and pyrethroids, largely due to their utility as a seed treatment, their high plant systemic activity in combination with reduced effectiveness and health concerns of other neuroactiveinsecticides. However, the environmental properties of this class of pesticides indicate they are persistent and have high leaching potential, and evidence in Europe and North America show them to be highly toxic to a wide range of non-target insects and other arthropods. Given the mounting evidence about the chemical's persistence and potential effects on pollinating species especially honeybees and aquatic insects, there is sufficient concern to warrant an immediate study to investigate the potential food chain impacts of these chemicals in agriculturally and wetland-dominated regions of the Canadian Prairies. Specifically, the proposed project will investigate ecological and toxicological effects of neonicotinoids in Prairie pothole wetland ecosystems. We will identify and model the landscape factors affecting the distribution and transport of these pesticides to wetlands, determine whether neonicotinoids are depleting or eliminating sensitive aquaticinvertebrates, and evaluate the abundance, productivity and stress response of water-associated birds dependenton healthy, productive wetlands.