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Ecology

Pesticides linked to bird declines

Nature volume 511, pages 295–296 (2014)Cite this article

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Decreases in bird numbers are most rapid in areas that are most heavily polluted with neonicotinoids, suggesting that the environmental damage inflicted by these insecticides may be much broader than previously thought. See Letter p.341

The debate over the environmental risks posed by neonicotinoid insecticides has raged since the late 1990s, when French beekeepers began blaming the chemicals for losses of honeybee colonies. The discussion has focused closely on bees, particularly the risks posed by the use of neonicotinoid treatments on flowering crops that bees visit. But on page 341 of this issue, Hallmann et al.1 provide strong evidence that this debate may have missed the bigger picture. Analysing long-term data sets on bird populations in the Netherlands, the authors demonstrate that regional patterns of population decline in insect-eating birds are neatly predicted by levels of neonicotinoids detected in environmental samples. In other words, birds have declined faster in places with more neonicotinoid pollution.

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Figure 1: The environmental fate of neonicotinoids.

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  1. Dave Goulson is in the School of Life Sciences, Sussex University, Falmer BN1 9QG, UK.,

    Dave Goulson

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  1. Dave Goulson
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Correspondence to Dave Goulson.

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Goulson, D. Pesticides linked to bird declines. Nature 511, 295–296 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13642

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