Kurzfassung

Since nearly 50% of the pesticides used in Europe can be allocated to the group of fungicides, they may be considered as an indispensable tool for pest management on agricultural fields nowadays. Moreover, some climate change scenarios suggest an increased pressure by fungal pests particularly for Northern Europe. Hence, the importance of fungicides may even elevate in future. Although fungicides are unintentionally introduced into aquatic ecosystems, their potential implications in these...Since nearly 50% of the pesticides used in Europe can be allocated to the group of fungicides, they may be considered as an indispensable tool for pest management on agricultural fields nowadays. Moreover, some climate change scenarios suggest an increased pressure by fungal pests particularly for Northern Europe. Hence, the importance of fungicides may even elevate in future. Although fungicides are unintentionally introduced into aquatic ecosystems, their potential implications in these ecosystems are hardly understood. Especially ecosystem functions involving beneficial fungal species, such as the decomposition of organic material, are supposed of being at risk. In this context, BASE aims at uncovering the importance of indirect – via an altered leaf associated microbial community (bottom up effects) – and direct effect pathways for higher trophic levels, i.e. detritivores. Moreover, it systematically investigates the implications of single fungicides, and their mixtures but also the time of exposure and repeated exposure scenarios on the development of such leaf associated microbial communities, which is a fundamental for an environmentally relevant risk assessment. In combination with the continuously exchange of the projects’ results with relevant Swedish stakeholders, BASE hence contributes to the development of an adequate risk assessment of fungicides used in agriculture.» weiterlesen» einklappen