New improvements on pesticide ecological risk assessment on the soil-water interface

Doutoramento em Engenharia Agronómica - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaImproving knowledge to evaluate and reduce pesticide impacts in the environment is a present concern to achieve their sustainable use. With the aim of increasing ecological relevance on the environmental risk assessment of pesticides (ERA), an integrated approach was undertaken linking pesticide fate and effects on aquatic and terrestrial non-target organisms under irrigated crop-based scenarios in Mediterranean realistic conditions, for which there is a lack of studies. Pesticides fate and effects were assessed by adopting an innovative approach embracing different levels of ERA complexity: a refined first-tier with the use of natural soil in ecotoxicological testing, instead of the conventional artificial soil; a refined higher-tier level performing simulations of cropbased agricultural scenarios of maize, potato and onion crops, with the application of the fungicides azoxystrobin and chlorothalonil and the insecticide ethoprophos, using a new semi-field methodology; and an higher tier field study incorporating biological interactions and dynamics of soil fauna communities and environmental factors that determine the effects of pesticides in the field under realistic agricultural practices. This study will increase the knowledge on ecological risks of pesticides under field situations improving decision making towards a sustainable use of pesticides and ecological protectio