Home
International
US
Canada
BC
Victoria
Vancouver
About
 
 

Category Menu

  • International
    • Peace
    • Earth
    • Justice
    • Blogs
    • Events
  • US
    • Peace
    • Earth
    • Justice
    • Blogs
    • Events
  • Canada
    • Peace
    • Earth
    • Justice
    • Blogs
    • Events
  • BC
    • Peace
    • Earth
    • Justice
    • Blogs
    • Events
  • Vancouver
    • Peace
    • Earth
    • Justice
    • Blogs
    • Events
  • Victoria
    • Peace
    • Earth
    • Justice
    • Blogs
    • Events

Contributors Menu

  • Article Submission
  • Administrator

Search Menu

  • Biodestruction
    • Clearcut
    • Old growth
    • Oil spills
    • Oil Sands
    • Oil Tankers
    • Oil Drilling
  • Environment
    • Pollution
    • Whaling
    • Nuclear waste
    • Nuclear energy
  • War
    • Nuclear arms
    • Iraq
    • Israel
    • Afghanistan
    • Assassination
    • Hezbollah
    • Iran
  • United Nations
    • Principles
      • Precautionary
      • Fir and Just Principle
      • Transboundary
  • Biodiversity
    • Agriculture
      • Genetic
      • Organic
  • Climate Change
    • Carbon
    • Global Warming
  • Justice
    • Human Rights
    • Civil and Political
    • Indigenous
    • Migrant Workers
    • Gay Rights
    • Gender Identity
    • Sexual Orientation
    • Same Sex Marriage
    • International Law
  • Elections
    • Canadian Federal
    • US Election
    • BC Election
  • Trade
    • World Trade
    • NAFTA
    • FTAA
    • Security And Prosperity
    • CAFTA
  • Geographical
    • Canada
    • Mexico
    • United States
    • Latin America
    • Bolivia
    • Cuba
    • El Salvador
    • Ecuador
    • Nicaragua
    • Venezuela
    • Brazil
    • Peru
    • Africa
      • South Africa
    • Iran
    • Palistine
    • Korea
    • Russia
    • Palestine
  • People
    • Bush
    • Harper
    • Obama
    • Karzide
    • Michael Ignatieff
    • Elizabeth May
    • Jack Layton
    • Vladimir Putin
    • Osama bin Laden
    • Clinton
    • Ahmadinejad
  • Political Parties
    • Democrats
    • Republican
    • Green
    • NDP
    • Liberal
    • Conservative
  • Disasters
    • Earthquake
    • Tsunami
    • Relief
  • International Organizations

Who's Online

We have 396 guests online

Popular

  • Pustule of the Body Politic: Me, You, and George
  • Cui Bono? Soft Targets
  • Empire Crack'd: Five Faces of Defeat
  • Harm Reduction on Crack!
  • US Weapon aims for Maximum Pain
  • Fisk: Want Terror? Try Here!
  • ELECTION 2015:A Long List of the transgressions of the Harper government
  • Death Penalty for Political Blogs?
  • Minister John Baird Embarrassed in Amman Jordan by questions related to Canadian domestic and international policy
  • LEFT COAST EVENTS - Lower Mainland - December 8th, 2004
  • The Second Global Chemtrail Summit 2017
  • BC AG Geoff Plant leaves and its about time!
  • Open Letter: UBCIC calls for the immediate cessation of the expropriation of lands for the doomed Site C Dam
  • would you like to Donate to PEJ News?
  • The Great Rap Hope
  • Trump Administration Tries to Torpedo Venezuelan Elections as It Intensifies “Regime Change” Efforts
  • Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
  • Domestic Terrorism: USA vs Veterans and the First Amendment
  • Muslim-American political cartoonist weighs in on Danish caricatures controversy
  • SUBMISSION TO THE CANCUN CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Estimated cleanup costs for Alberta’s mines jumps to $23.2-billion
  • Fair Use Notice - Fair Dealing Notice
  • Peace, Earth & Justice News Archives to 1996
  • LEFT COAST EVENTS - Lower Mainland - June 4th, 2005
  • For the Love and Hate of Saddam
  • Basra Bizarre: SAS Commandos Arrested and Sprung
  • Now You Too Can Wreck the Nation: Playing Politics Bush Style
  • Virtual Public Spheres: New Political Culture
  • Enter Newt
  • Smack Down: Stephen Colbert Takes Bush to Task at White House Correspondents' Dinner
  • Wolfowitz Bid for World Bank Post Torpedoed [correction]
  • Einstein and the Bomb - Hiroshima the Hidden Story
  • Smart to Advertise on PEJ News
  • FOX Sics its Dogs on "Un-American" Professors
  • Paying for the Crime: Poison Legacy in Vietnam
  • Wal-Mart Conquistadors: Cut-Rate Desecration
  • Born on the Fourth of July: The Long Journey Home
  • Iraq: Women raped, sold, killed as US Forces Fail at Security
  • Online Media, Young Adults and Politics
  • Bush's Brain Down the Drain? Karl Rove and Treason
  • Berlusconi Victim of Failed Sgrena Assassination [w/ update]
  • Victoria Sex Stroll - Is it Appropriate?
  • The Pitiful Demise of the Eminent Grey Lady
  • Wolf to Tend the Flock at World Bank: Sex, Lies, and High Finance
  • C.I.A. Chief Warns Allies to Prepare for U.S. Bombing of Iran and Syria
  • Is there a way to wash the pesticides off fruits and vegetables before we eat them?
  • Extraordinary Rendition
  • Police Tackle Prostitutes in Victoria
  • US Redesigning Atomic Weapons
  • Victoria Community Resources, Services and Activists
  • A Message for Trudeau on his visit to Victoria on July 18, 2019
  • More SpongeBob, Harper and same-sex debate
  • Tony Demark's Before and After Satellite Photos of the Tsunami
  • The Great Housing Crash of '07
  • George Gerbner Leaves the Mean World Syndrome
  • Sun and Secret Sex Dens: Paedophiles Paradise in the Philippines
  • Intelligence Whispers: Terrorism's Funding Friends in High Places
  • Scientists create cells that can harness sun's rays
  • Ban Weaponized Drones from the World
  • Habeas Corpus Murdered, Few Notice
  • The Other Lebanon
  • Haiti's Untold Betrayal
  • A tale of two gay men, AIDS and Family
  • SpongeBob Kid's video 'pro-gay' says Focus on the Family's Dobson
  • Victims of Montreal school massacre remembered 15 years later
  • Cluetrain Manifesto for People-Powered Politics
  • Anomalies, Prisons, and Geophysics: How Governments Use Data
  • david johnston political prisioner in victoria jail
  • Italy Outraged: Charge Freed Journo Shooting Deliberate [UPDATE]
  • Drums for Tehran
  • Its about same sex sex, not marriage
  • Ady Gil Sank by Japenese - Whale War Declared
  • Gay teen outed then kicked out of Christian High School
  • Hockey Icon, Don Cherry, Gives Thumbs up to Gay Marriage
  • Hot Night in the Cite: U.N. Haiti "Massacre" Caught on Tape
  • Behind the Orange Revolution: From Soviet to American Satellites
  • Email - American describes horror of Tsunami in Thailand
  • US Nuclear Sub Forced to Leave Persian Gulf
  • Afghanistan: Canada's Iraq?
  • Bush Oil Deals Coming to Light
  • Tits on a Bull: Necessary Desecration
  • BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT: WHISTLEBLOWER AFFIDAVIT: Programmer Built Vote Rigging Prototype at Republican Congressman's Request!
  • Invitation to Submit Comment on Nanoose Bay CFMETR
  • B.C. Civil Liberties Association to release CSIS papers on environmental groups Social Sharing
  • Faked Photo of Tsunami Wave "Approaching Phuket, Thailand"
  • Deep Throat Comes Out
  • 'Red Light' Idea Glows Brighter in Vancouver
  • Apartheid Apologist: Black Jack Abramoff's Early Adventures
  • "Gays won't be getting married in Alberta, we're not going to do it," - Premier Klein
  • "Thanks, But No Thanks!" U.S. Rejects International Aid Offers
  • Martial Law Bush's October Surprise?
  • New Orleans Sinking? Mammoth Katrina Spurs Evacuations
  • Canadian Women Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
  • Peace, Earth and Justice TV - PEJ Television
  • Freeping on Gomery: Ottawa's Deep Secret Revealed [with update]
  • What is Canada doing in Afghanistan?
  • No Exit: A Hand Grenade over the Shoulder
  • Gwynne Dyer: The Climate Wars
  • Targeting Giuliana
  • No-One wants to talk to Cindy Sheehan on Inauguration Day
  • Shooting the Messenger: Targeting Journalists
  • CPP Supports Depleted Uranium Weapons Production
  • SuperDome Lockdown: Katrina's Prisoners
  • Mark Foley's Email Exchange with 16 year old Page
  • Tales from the Oval Orifice: The Albatross Lays a Giant Egg
  • US Encouraged by 1967 Vietnam Vote
  • Was Bush packing Wi-Fi in TV debate?
  • Jewish Clergy Escalates Attack on Carter 'Apartheid' Book
  • The CIA: Back to Somalia
  • Balls at Last! Castration en Vogue
  • The Human Rights Case Against Attacking Iran
  • Who's to Blame for Global Warming?
  • Bill 37 a shocking betrayal of health careworkers
  • American Desecration Fuels Outrage Throughout Muslim World
  • Christian Right labeled as hate group in US - Rising in Canada
  • Detention Center Building Boom: Getting with the Bush "Special Program"
  • The Hurricane and Bush?s Criminal Negligence
  • Parents Beware: Hermit Crabs Make Bad Pets
  • The Plastic Bag Life Cycle
  • Offensive Canadian Military Posters in Public Places: correspondence with the Minister
3165 readings
Decline in US bird biodiversity related to neonicotinoids, study shows PDF Print E-mail
Letters to Editor
Posted by Joan Russow
Monday, 17 August 2020 13:21

 

Date:
August 14, 2020
Source:
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Summary:
Bird biodiversity is rapidly declining in the US. The overall bird population decreased by 29% since 1970, while grassland birds declined by an alarming 53%. A new study points to increased use of neonicotinoid insecticides as a major factor in the decline.
Share:
    
FULL STORY

 

Bird biodiversity is rapidly declining in the U.S. The overall bird population decreased by 29% since 1970, while grassland birds declined by an alarming 53%.

Valuable for so much more than flight and song, birds hold a key place in ecosystems worldwide. When bird numbers and varieties dwindle, pest populations increase and much-needed pollination decreases. Those examples alone negatively impact food production and human health.

Likely reasons for the far-reaching and devastating declines include intensified agricultural production, use of pesticides, conversion of grassland to agricultural land, and climate change. A new study from University of Illinois points to increased use of neonicotinoid insecticides as a major factor in the decline, says Madhu Khanna, distinguished professor in agricultural and consumer economics at U of I and co-author on the paper, published in Nature Sustainability.

Khanna says numerous studies have shown neonicotinoids -- nicotine-based pesticides -- negatively affect wild bees, honey bees, and butterflies, but large-scale studies on the pesticide's impact on birds have been limited. She speaks more about the topic in a podcast from the Center for the Economics of Sustainability at Illinois.

"This represents the first study at a national scale, over a seven-year time period, using data from hundreds of bird species in four different categories -- grassland birds, non-grassland birds, insectivores, and non-insectivores," she says.

"We found robust evidence of the negative impact of neonicotinoids, in particular on grassland birds, and to some extent on insectivore birds after controlling for the effects of changes in land use."

Khanna and co-authors Yijia Li, a graduate student at U of I, and Ruiqing Miao, assistant professor at Auburn University, analyzed bird populations from 2008 to 2014 in relation to changes in pesticide use and agricultural crop acreage.

The authors found that an increase of 100 kilograms in neonicotinoid usage per county-a 12% increase on average-contributed to a 2.2% decline in populations of grassland birds and 1.6% in insectivorous birds. By comparison, the use of 100 kilograms of non-neonicotinoid pesticides was associated with a 0.05% decrease in grassland birds and a 0.03% decline in non-grassland birds, insectivorous birds, and non-insectivorous birds.

Since impacts accumulate, the authors estimate that, for example, 100 kilograms neonicotinoid use per county in 2008 reduced cumulative grassland-bird populations by 9.7% by 2014. These findings suggest that neonicotinoid use has a relatively large effect on population declines of important birds and that these impacts grow over time.

According to the study, the adverse impacts on bird populations were concentrated in the Midwest, Southern California, and Northern Great Plains.

The researchers say the effect of neonicotinoids could result directly from birds consuming treated crop seeds, and indirectly by affecting the insect populations they feed on. Consumption of just a few seeds is enough to cause long-term damage to the birds' reproduction and development.

The study included data on bird population and species diversity from the North American breeding bird survey, a comprehensive database with data from about 3,000 bird routes across the United States. The researchers correlated the bird data with pesticide use, as well as satellite data on agricultural crop acreage and urban land use.

They examined whether intensified agricultural production and conversion of grassland to agricultural land also contributed to the bird decline. Results showed a small negative effect on grassland birds related to cropland expansion, but no significant effect on other types of birds.

While the use of other pesticides has been flat or declining, neonicotinoid usage has grown exponentially over the past two decades. Neonicotinoids are considerably more toxic to insects and persist longer in the environment, the researchers note.

"This research provides compelling support for the re-evaluation of policies permitting the use of neonicotinoids by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by incorporating considerations of the implications of these pesticides for bird habitats," the authors conclude.

The project was supported by Hatch funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

make a difference: sponsored opportunity
 
 

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. Original written by Marianne Stein. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

 

Latest News

  • INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE FOR THE SAKE OF PEACE AND DISARMAMENT
  • Protecting Nature is Entirely Within Humanity’s Reach: The Work Must Start Now
  • Protecting Nature is Entirely Within Humanity’s Reach: The Work Must Start Now By Inger Andersen
  • the Leap Manifesto is 5 years old today
  • Cumberland Community Forest Event
  • BCEN Calls for Stop to Site C
  • UN at 75 TIME FOR COMPLIANCE
  • The U.N. at 75: A Time for Compliance
  • The dark side of Canadian hydropower exposed in U.S. International Trade Commission investigation
  • The Site C dam has become an albatross and a serious objective review is needed urgently
  • Decline in US bird biodiversity related to neonicotinoids, study shows
  • Thousands of Quakes, Tied to Fracking, Keep Shaking the Site C Dam Region
  • Green Party leadership candidate,Dimitri Lascaris will be in Victoria on August 13
  • 1998 THE GREEN PARTY OF CANADA — THE POLITICAL CONSCIENCE OF CANADA
  • 1998 THE GREEN PARTY OF CANADA — THE POLITICAL CONSCIENCE OF CANADA
  • U.N. Member States Accused of Cherry-Picking Human Rights
  • How a Global Ocean Treaty Could Protect Biodiversity in the High Seas
  • First Nation Enacts Historic ʔElhdaqox Dechen Ts’edilhtan (“Sturgeon River Law”)
  • The Canadian Oil Service Sector supports the Emergence of New Canadian Geothermal Developers
  • Crisis Hits Oil Industry in atin america
  • Absolutely Unacceptable: if US may Resume Nuclear Explosive Testing
  • Nearly 900 Gulf Coast hazardous chemical facilities are vulnerable to dangerous hurricanes
  • Seismic survey threatens endangered whales
  • Bruce Power ordered to reveal prices
  • COVID-19 Has Blown Away the Myth About ‘First’ and ‘Third’ World Competence
  • VICTORIA BC OPPOSITION TO INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN "the Rule of International law not Revenge must Prevail"
  • 2014 peace conference in the Hague
  • The Anti-Lockdown Protesters Have a Twisted Conception of Liberty Their notion of freedom derives a lot of its power from the enforcement of racial hierarchy.
  • Moving Forward, Not Backward: A Regional Agenda for Caring, Low-Carbon Communities After Covid-19
  • I oversaw the U.S. nuclear power industry. Now I think it should be banned.
  • ‘Biodiversity protection needed to prevent future pandemics’
  • OPEN LETTER: Call for the Halting of Site C Construction Due to the COVID-19 Outbreak
  • G7 statement scrapped after U.S. insisted coronavirus be called "Wuhan virus"
  • COVID-19 BC UPDATE MAR 25, 2020
  • Love Gone Viral
  • Coronaviruses Mountain Top Distancing Together
  • Canada’s Interpretation of Free Prior Informed is out of Sync with the International Interpretation
  • Wet’suwet’en: Why Are Indigenous Rights Being Defined By An Energy Corporation?
  • If Bloomberg Wants to Buy an Election, He Should Run as a Republican Against Trump—Not Sabotage Democrats
  • They stole the Children from the Land Now They Steal the Land from the Children
  • Wet'suwet'en Solidarity Action
  • What Does the Future Hold for US-Bolivia Ties?
  • 10 Commandments of the Christian Right Industrial Military Establishment (CRIME)
  • 10 Commandments of the Christian Right Industrial Military Establishment (CRIME)
  • 2020 The Fate of the Earth Must Not be Decided by the US and its Fellow Nuclear Weapons States and NATO allies.
  • achievements in Bolivia under Evo Morales
  • Trans Mountain Pipeline
  • The nuclear Double Standard Between US/Israel and Iran
  • Petition to UNGA to set up an international Tribunal to try President Donald J Trump for Crimes Against the Peace
  • Petition to set up an international Tribunal to try President Donald J. Trump for Crimes Against the Peace
  • TIME FOR EMERGENCY SESSION OF THE UNGA INVOKING THE UNITING FOR PEACE RESOLUTION
  • 2003 US IS AN INTERNATIONAL ROGUE STATE: HYPOCRITICAL STANCES. CORRUPTIVE PRACTICES, AND ILLEGAL ACTIONS, Joan Russow (PhD) Global Compliance Research Institute
  • Avocado boom wreaks havoc on Latin America’s environment
  • De-legitimization of war War on Trial
  • Canada backs coup against Bolivia’s president
  • Bolivia’s Coup Enabled by the Trump Administration and the OAS
  • No Evidence That Bolivian Election Results Were Affected by Irregularities or Fraud, Statistical Analysis Shows
  • The Silent Spring prophecy that pesticides could “still the leaping of fish” has been confirmed
  • B.C. landowners dig in their heels over Trans Mountain pipeline construction
  • nuclear risks on rise, Canadians must fight for disarmament
  • COMBATING DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT Burning Forests for Rain, and Other Climate Catastrophes
  • A GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE EMERGENCY STATEMENT FOR COP26
  • Tomgram: Aviva Chomsky, How the Green New Deal Is Changing America
  • A Message for Prime Minister Trudeau on his visit to Victoria on July 18, 2019
  • The Great Reckoning A Look Back from Mid-Century
  • A Message for Trudeau on his visit to Victoria on July 18, 2019
  • Summer School on Geoengineering Governance
  • B.C. Civil Liberties Association to release CSIS papers on environmental groups Social Sharing
  • Tomgram: Allegra Harpootlian, Ending the Forever Wars?
  • Consent Means Consent Not Consultation, Coercion or “after the Decision", Notification
  • We Must do More to Speed up Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies
  • 1997 INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC TRUST AGREEMENTS AS INSTRUMENTS OF CHANGE SUBMISSION TO ECO-SOLUTIONS CONFERENCE
  • Elementary students restore, reclaim neighbourhood park
  • Elementary students restore, reclaim neighbourhood park
  • WITH INDUSTRY DATING BACK TO 1859, PENNSYLVANIA STRUGGLES WITH 200,000+ ORPHAN WELLS
  • Do We Need a Global Convention of Common Principles for Building Peace?
  • Monsanto’s “Rain of Death” on Canada’s Forests
  • UN chief concerned nuclear 'coffin' leaking in Pacific
  • Warnings of 'Gulf of Tonkin 2.0' as Trump Officials Blame Iran for Oil Tanker Attacks
  • Internal Displacement “Deserves Visibility”
  • Open Letter to Jason Kenny
  • The US Is Spending $1.25 Trillion Annually on War
  • Fossil Fuel Subsidies Exceed Pentagon Spending
  • The United States has spent more subsidizing fossil fuels in recent years than it has on defense spending, according to a new report from the International Monetary Fund.
  • Port Renfrew chamber decries logging plan
  • Thawing Permafrost Emitting Higher Levels of Potent Greenhouse Gas Than Previously Thought: Study
  • Civil Society Under Attack in Name of Counterterrorism
  • Canadian Military Spying Activities Require More Scrutiny: Watchdog
  • 2001The Criminalization of Dissent The Ottawa Citizen Sat 18 Aug 2001
  • NGOs Blast US for Undermining Criminal Court
  • 1994 Resolution on canadian Forests passed by the IUCN
  • Can We Stop Pretending Now? The Trump Era as an Occasion for Truth Telling
  • NATO AT 70 TIME TO DISBAND NATO
  • NATO AT 70 TIME TO DISBAND NATO
  • Civil Society Organisations Under Attack by Rightwing Governments & Extremist Groups
  • Canada’s SNC-Lavalin Affair: The Site C Dam Project and Bulk Water Export
  • House Dems reveal new info on a shady White House plan to sell nuclear tech to Saudi Arabia
  • Liberal precedent for confounding dual role of Minister of Justice and Attorney General
  • Cuba's Ambassador Responds to CBC News
  • What Does It Take to Destroy a World Order?
  • Michael Cohen’s parting shot: I fear what happens if Trump loses in 2020
  • Invoke the Precautionary Principle, no Highway through the Sooke Hills Wilderness
  • Iran still holding up its end of nuclear deal, IAEA report shows by Francois Murphy
  • Taking the Lead in Fight Against Climate Change
  • Glyphosate blocks trade between Italy and Canada
  • It's taboo to talk about Canada's real corporate scandal
  • Facts Don’t Interfere With Propaganda Blitz Against Venezuela’s Elected President
  • Water commission unanimously opposes Malahat detour in watershed
  • The herbicide glyphosate persists in wild, edible plants: B.C. study
  • Wake Up and Smell the Organic Coffee
  • Wake Up and Smell the Organic Coffee
  • Mining Grabs Up Land, Deals Blow to Agriculture in Central America
  • THERE IS NO NEW NORMAL; JUST UNHEEDED WARNINGS, LOST OPPORTUNITY AND OPPORTUNISTIC ADAPTING
  • 'China is your daddy': Backlash against Tibetan student's election prompts questions about foreign influence
  • UW study: Exposure to chemical in Roundup increases risk for cancer
  • Veni, Vidi, Tweeti (I Came, I Saw, I Tweeted) An Obituary for the Republic
  • Ottawa’s Wood Buffalo plan ‘not good enough’: First Nations
  • Solar Energy Provides Hope for Poor Neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires
  • Climate and economic risks 'threaten 2008-style systemic collapse'
  • The New Normal panel; 2012 Global Security conference in Halifax on Friday, November 16,

All articles posted on our site are copyright free unless indicated otherwise; or should be. Please see the “fair use notice”