Uselessness and indirect negative effects of an insecticide on rice field invertebrates.
Macro-invertebrate assemblages on organic and conventional rice fields were quantitatively compared in the Camargue (Rhone delta, France). There was no major difference in family richness, but significant differences as regard to abundance. Fipronil, the insecticide used to control chironomid larvae, was one of the main factors explaining those differences. Its negative impact on predatory invertebrates appears to explain the paradoxical lack of difference in chironomid abundance between organic and conventional fields, observed during the study. Macro-invertebrate biomass estimation showed that, for some birds such as herons, conventional rice fields offered a lower value as foraging habitats than organic ones.
Mesléard
François
F
Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat, Le Sambuc, 13200 Arles, France. mesleard@tourduvalat.org
Garnero
Stéphanie
S
Beck
Nicolas
N
Rosecchi
Elisabeth
E
D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D018533:Biomass; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D002683:Chironomidae; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004463:Ecology; D007306:Insecticides / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000633:toxicity; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000145:classification; D007814:Larva; D012275:Oryza; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D011720:Pyrazoles / Q000633:toxicity
D007306:Insecticides; D011720:Pyrazoles; C082360:fipronil