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Pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides have a variety of effects on the ecosystem. For example, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides used in excess can pollute soil and water. Pesticides have a harmful effect on a variety of creatures, including birds, fish, non-target plants, soil, water, grass, insects, and weeds. The run-off from the fields enters the water bodies, affecting aquatic biota and posing major health risks to humans. Excess nitrogen in the water, for example, produces blue baby syndrome in youngsters. Pesticides are harmful chemicals that are intentionally introduced into the environment and are used to kill a specific bug. A considerable percentage of pesticides end up somewhere other than their intended target. Pesticides pose a risk of contaminating soil, water, turf, and other plant life. Although insecticides are the most highly hazardous type of pesticide, herbicides can also harm non-target creatures.

Once chemicals and harmful compounds enter the food chain. They accumulate in the bodies of creatures, increasing in concentration with each trophic level. As a result, the soil becomes barren and unsuitable for crops and plants. They are taken up by the plants as they become a part of the soil. To put it another way, when species in the higher food chain ingest organisms that have toxins below their trophic levels. The poisons progressively accumulate in the higher food chain. The higher organisms will accumulate the majority of the poisons, which becomes a repeated process in the ecosystem and throughout the entire food chain.

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Biomagnification

Biomagnification is the term for this process. DDT, for example, accumulates in the bodies of fish as it enters aquatic bodies as a result of field runoff. Biomagnification stands for “Biological Magnification,” which refers to the growth of tainted or harmful elements in food chains. Intoxicated or contaminated settings are common sources of these chemicals. Heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic, pesticides such as DDT, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are among the toxins that are absorbed by organisms through the food they eat. The toxic compounds then accumulate within the cells of the organism. The higher organisms will accumulate the majority of the toxins because this is a repeating process in the ecosystem and along the entire food chain.

Agricultural pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers, among other agricultural chemicals, are very toxic. And frequently find their way into soils, rivers, and lakes, as well as the seas, via surface stormwater runoff. It causes havoc with the food chain’s interwoven relationships. Any little fish that eats mercury-tainted plankton is an example of biological amplification and its hazards. Birds of prey were particularly vulnerable because they thinned the shells of their eggs. And leading them to shatter readily when the birds attempted to incubate them. They can be harmful to a variety of creatures, including birds, fish, insects, and non-target plants. In addition to killing insects and weeds. Fungicides can be extremely poisonous to a wide range of creatures, posing a significant threat to aquatic biota.

Effect of pesticide
Biomagnification

Effect of pesticides on the environment

  • Water-Rain, ground water, streams, rivers, lakes, and seas all contain pesticides.Pesticides can enter water in four ways.They can drift outside of the spraying area.They can leach through the soil.They can be carried as runoff.Pesticide concentrations in some river and groundwater samples exceed those allowed for drinking water.Surface water contamination is a common occurrence.
  • Soil-The usage of pesticides reduces the soil’s overall biodiversity.Without chemicals, soil quality improves, allowing for greater water retention.It is essential for plant growth.
  • Plant-Pesticides in the soil impede the process of nitrogen fixation. It is essential for the growth of many big plants.Crop yields could plummet as a result of this.
  • Animals-Pesticide residues that stay on food after spraying can cause poisoning in animals.Pesticides applied to a specific area can eliminate food sources. Some animals require, forcing them to relocate, change their diet, or starve.Pesticide poisoning can also travel up the food chain. It causes harm to birds who eat insects.
  • Birds There is evidence that pesticide use is harming birds.The demise of various bird species owing to pesticide deposition in their tissues.Fungicides used in agriculture are only mildly hazardous to birds and mammals. But they can kill earthworms, reducing the numbers of birds and mammals that feed on them.Furthermore, because some pesticides are available in granular form. Birds and other species may mistake the granules for food grains.Herbicides may potentially put bird populations at risk by diminishing habitat.
Effect of pesticide
Effect of pesticide on birds
  • Life in the WaterPesticide-contaminated water may affect fish and other aquatic biota.Herbicides can kill vegetation in bodies of water. Lowering oxygen levels in the water and suffocating fish.Some pesticides can produce physiological and behavioural changes in fish that diminish population size. Such as nest abandonment, disease immunity, and increased failure to evade predators, when exposed repeatedly.
Effect of pesticide
Effect of Pesticide on Aquatic

 Effects of pesticides on non-target organisms

  • Human. There are certain inherent limitations in accurately assessing the dangers of pesticides to human health. A huge number of human characteristics, such as age, sex, race, socioeconomic level, food, state of health, and so on. All influence human pesticide exposure. The impacts of these variables, however, are practically unknown.
  • Earthworms-Earthworms also contribute to the improvement and maintenance of soil structure by producing channels in the soil that allow for aeration and drainage. Earthworm populations may suffer as a result of pesticide use. Carbamate insecticides, for example, are extremely poisonous to earthworms, and several organophosphates have been proven to have a negative impact on earthworm populations.
  • Pollinators-Pollinators are biotic agents that are crucial to the pollination process.Different types of bees, bumble bees, honey bees, fruit flies, some beetles, and birds are some of the identified pollinators.Using pesticides, on the other hand, results in direct losses of insect pollinators and indirect losses of crops due to a lack of adequate pollinator populations.

Strategies for pesticide management

  • Pest population monitoring in the field prior to pesticide application, switching pesticides with different modes of action, limiting the number of applications over time and space, creating or exploiting refugia, avoiding unnecessary persistence, targeting pesticide applications against the most vulnerable stages of the pest life cycle.And using synergists that can increase the toxicity of given pesticides by inhibiting the detoxification process are among the most important.
  • Pest resurgence is a dose-dependent process.The problem of resurgence can develop for a variety of reasons. One of these is owing to farmers’ predisposition to use low-dose insecticides due to financial restrictions, resulting in insufficient and poor pest management.In the current situation, it is critical to optimise pesticide use in order to prevent environmental contamination while boosting pesticide effectiveness.We can lessen pesticide resistance and pest comeback problems in this way.
  • Differential toxicity between species for a given pesticide characterises physiological selectivity.Ecological selectivity, on the other hand, relates to modifying operational procedures to prevent wasteful destruction of non-target creatures.Farmers should concentrate on using insecticides that are more poisonous to target species than their natural enemies, which may help to limit revival.
  • When it comes to pest treatment, consider using an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach. As these approaches are meant to cause the least amount of environmental disruption. IPM aims to reduce indiscriminate pesticide use while also replacing dangerous pesticides with safer alternatives.IPM is a method of accomplishing long-term, environmentally friendly pest control via the use of a range of technology and other pest management techniques.Pest management is an eco-friendly practice that blends all available methods into one unified programme, thereby minimising economic damage and minimizing any adverse effects.

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Conclusion

Our approach to pesticide use should be practical. To prevent pesticide contamination (and the harm it causes) in our ecosystem. We must all do our share to employ cleaner, non-chemical pest control (including weed control) approaches. Analyzing the breadth and nature of pesticide-related advantages required a combination of digging, dreaming, and distilling. There have been some blind alleys. But there have also been some pleasant surprises. The main picture is what we expected: ‘knocking’ pesticides gives publicity, ideological accolades. And research opportunities, whereas supporting them brings allegations of entrenched interests. To put it another way, all pesticide-related operations should be based on scientific judgment. Rather than commercial reasons. Concomitant exposure to other pesticides, as well as contaminants found in air, water, food, and medications. It has a significant impact on the long-term effects of low-level pesticide exposure.

Pesticide use, on the other hand, comes at a hefty expense. Pesticides have infiltrated nearly every aspect of our ecosystem. Pesticide residues have been identified in soil, air, surface, and groundwater across the globe. And urban pesticide use is a contributing factor. Non-target creatures, such as beneficial soil microbes, insects, plants, fish, and birds, are also at risk from pesticide contamination. Herbicides, contrary to popular belief, can be harmful to the environment. Pesticides present the ideal opportunity for those who juggle risk-benefit equations. Because of the huge benefits that man derives from them. Pesticide use has a significant cost-benefit profile that varies significantly between industrialized and developing countries. Pesticides are essential in impoverished nations. Because no one wants famine or infectious diseases like malaria. Accepting a certain amount of danger may thus be preferable.

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