2017/11/09 by Lennard Pisa, Dave Goulson, En‐Cheng Yang +11 · 308 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Biology #Biota #Ecology #Ecosystem #Ecosystem engineer #Fipronil #Imidacloprid #Insect Pest Control Strategies #Insect and Pesticide Research #Insect-Plant Interactions and Control #Invertebrate #Pesticide #Wildlife
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s11356-017-0341-3
published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research 28(10), 11749-11797 (Springer Science+Business Media)
openalex publication_date 2017/11/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
New information on the lethal and sublethal effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on organisms is presented in this review, complementing the previous Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) in 2015. The high toxicity of these systemic insecticides to invertebrates has been confirmed and expanded to include more species and compounds. Most of the recent research has focused on bees and the sublethal and ecological impacts these insecticides have on pollinators. Toxic effects on other invertebrate taxa also covered predatory and parasitoid natural enemies and aquatic arthropods. Little new information has been gathered on soil organisms. The impact on marine and coastal ecosystems is still largely uncharted. The chronic lethality of neonicotinoids to insects and crustaceans, and the strengthened evidence that these chemicals also impair the immune system and reproduction, highlights the dangers of this particular insecticidal class (neonicotinoids and fipronil), with the potential to greatly decrease populations of arthropods in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Sublethal effects on fish, reptiles, frogs, birds, and mammals are also reported, showing a better understanding of the mechanisms of toxicity of these insecticides in vertebrates and their deleterious impacts on growth, reproduction, and neurobehaviour of most of the species tested. This review concludes with a summary of impacts on the ecosystem services and functioning, particularly on pollination, soil biota, and aquatic invertebrate communities, thus reinforcing the previous WIA conclusions (van der Sluijs et al. 2015).