Pesticides have negative effects on non-target organisms
Pesticides affect a diverse range of non-target species and may be linked to global biodiversity loss. The magnitude of this hazard remains only partially understood. We present a synthesis of pesticide (insecticide, herbicide and fungicide) impacts on multiple non-target organisms across trophic levels based on 20,212 effect sizes from 1,705 studies. For non-target plants, animals (invertebrate and vertebrates) and microorganisms (bacteria and fungi), we show negative responses of the growth, reproduction, behaviour and other physiological biomarkers within terrestrial and aquatic systems. Pesticides formulated for specific taxa negatively affected non-target groups, e.g. insecticidal neonicotinoids affecting amphibians. Negative effects were more pronounced in temperate than tropical regions but were consistent between aquatic and terrestrial environments, even after correcting for field-realistic terrestrial and environmentally relevant exposure scenarios. Our results question the sustainability of current pesticide use and support the need for enhanced risk assessments to reduce risks to biodiversity and ecosystems.
Authors
- Liwan Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7851-6379)
- Dave Goulson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4421-2876)
- Nian‐Feng Wan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9486-9150)
- David J. Spurgeon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3264-8760)
- Yue‐Qing Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5730-0317)
- Adam J. Vanbergen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8320-5535)
- Christoph Scherber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7924-8911)
- Lars Pødenphant Kiær (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1501-8831)
- Ben A. Woodcock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0300-9951)
- Fengfei Xin
- Matteo Dainese (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7052-5572)
- Siyuan Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4131-3607)
Institutions
- University of Verona (IT)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- University of Bonn (DE)
- East China University of Science and Technology (CN)
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Université de Bourgogne (FR)
- Capital Medical University (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (GB)
- Agroécologie (FR)
- Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté (FR)
- Institut Agro Dijon (FR)
- Beijing Children’s Hospital (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-02-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56732-x
- Citations
- 233
- Primary Topic
- Insect and Pesticide Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 387.96
Funders
- Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai
- Sight Research UK
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities