PesTE - Pesticides in the Terrestrial Ecosystem: effects on biodiversity, soil function and ecosystem services.

• Grant number: 13/09449-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2014
• End date: April 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Evaldo Luiz Gaeta Espindola
• Grantee: Vanessa Bezerra de Menezes Oliveira
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Bom Repouso, located in the State of Minas Gerais has nearly 10.000 habitants and 50% of its population lives in the rural area. Bom Repouso region has a vast water potential and its main economic source is in the agricultural production, mainly strawberry and potato. More than eighty different pesticides are used in these plantations being the insecticide/acaricide Avermectina and the fungicides Estrobilurina and Triazol the most frequently employed. Non target terrestrial and aquatic organisms may be negatively affected by the pesticides misuse (e.g. overdose). These compounds may reach the terrestrial and aquatic environment by, for example, the direct soil application and surface water runoff or percolation, respectively. Several effects may be caused by the pesticides application, as for example the biodiversity losses, which may also cause changes to the ecosystem functions e.g. nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition and, consequently, to the ecosystem services. In this project we intend to identify the local edaphic community (mainly collembolan, acari and worms), choosing at least one species from each different trophic level in order to understand the effects caused by the pesticides Avermectina and Triazol, alone or in combination. After the identification of the main species the risk assessment will be made taking the different trophic levels into consideration to evaluate the species interaction when the organisms are exposed to Avermectina. The effects of the water surface runoff are also going to be assessed using aquatic micro crustaceans (Daphnia similis).

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE MENEZES OLIVEIRA, VANESSA BEZERRA; BIANCHI, MIRIAM DE OLIVEIRA; GAETA ESP'NDOLA, EVALDO LUIZ. Hazard assessment of the pesticides KRAFT 36 EC and SCORE in a tropical natural soil using an ecotoxicological test battery. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, v. 37, n. 11, p. 2919-2924, NOV 2018. (13/09449-0)

MENEZES-OLIVEIRA, VANESSA B.; BIANCHI, MIRIAM O.; ESPINDOLA, EVALDO L. G.. Changes in soil mesofauna structure due to different land use systems in south Minas Gerais, Brazil. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT, v. 193, n. 7, JUL 2021. (13/09449-0)