Novel Pesticide Risk Indicators for Aquatic Organisms and Earthworms

Abstract

There are many approaches of pesticide risk assessment. Despite their variation in difficulty and information complexity, all of them are intended to predict the actual pesticide risk as accurately as possible, i.e., to predict the behavior and hazard of a pesticide in the environment with high precision. The aim of this study was to develop a risk indicator of pesticide’s negative impact on soil and aquatic organisms. The developed pesticide risk indicator constitutes the sum of points of acute toxicity exposure ratio, long-term toxicity exposure ratio, and the bioconcentration factor. To develop the indicator, mathematical models were used; the input data included the soil and climate conditions of a specific region. Combining the data of pesticide toxicity in the environment allowed for a more accurate risk assessment in terms of using plant protection products. The toxicity and behavior in soil and water of 200 widespread pesticides were studied. It could be concluded that a mathematical model, PEARL 4.4.4, calibrated for region-specific soil-climate conditions, provides a relevant description of the natural translocation and decomposition of pesticides in soils. In addition, the output data of this model can be applied to calculate the risk indicators. The combination of these parameters with pesticide toxicity for non-target groups of organisms allows the risk indicator to be a universal tool for predicting the negative impact of pesticides on the environment at the regional level.