Effects of herbicides on non-target terrestrial plants

Over the past decades declining biodiversity has been a major concern across the world; however, preventing biodiversity declines in agricultural areas has been ineffective. Failure to adequately assess and properly regulate herbicide effects can have important implications for species richness and overall biodiversity within natural and semi-natural habitats adjacent to agricultural fields. While the use of agrochemicals including both fertilizers and pesticides has been considered of great concern for the observed biodiversity declines, this paper primarily focusses on herbicide effects on non-target terrestrial plants. Although not explicitly addressed in current pesticide regulations, environmental protection, in particular, should include considerations of the impacts on non-target species, biodiversity and ecosystems. However, current toxicity tests are not optimised in terms of the endpoints assessed, the species tested, or the importance of pesticide effects on community composition, ecosystem functioning and biodiversity and thus, do not adequately fulfil the requirements of the EU pesticide legislation for environmental protection