Advancing the environmental risk assessment of non‐target arthropods for plant protection products by accounting for the impact on ecosystem services and on the ecological function. Final report

Abstract

Abstract This report consolidates and integrates the results of the AENEAS project. The report covers three objectives. First, a protocol was developed for establishing a quantitative link between direct effects of plant protection products (PPP) to non‐target arthropods and pollinators other than managed bees, and the ecological consequences of these effects was established. The protocol was implemented for the ecosystem service provision of pest control and pollination. Based on collected literature, representative vulnerable taxa (i.e. key drivers) were identified for exemplar ecosystem services. Habitat scenarios were developed and used in modelling approaches that provide a blue‐print for how pesticide use impacts can be extrapolated from individual effects to broader ecosystem functions driving ecosystem service delivery, for multiple European landscape structures and environmental conditions. Second, interspecies sensitivity due to direct effects of the key driver species was investigated. A literature search was conducted, and laboratory experiments were performed, for 16 species and 3 pesticides. The study highlights pronounced interspecific variability in pesticide susceptibility driven by chemical properties, trophic groups, and life‐stage differences. Third, exposure for species belonging to representative vulnerable taxa was assessed. The species investigated were Mamestra brassicae and Coccinella septempunctata. These organisms were exposed via different routes to four PPP with different characteristics. Exposure routes considered were: direct insect overspray, contact with a dried residue on natural substrate surface and dietary intake. For all PPP and test organisms, overspray resulted in the highest residue unit dose level on the first day. Thereafter, dietary intake and contact exposure had the highest dose levels.