Abstract
Neonicotinoid insecticides (NNIs) have been routinely used in arable crop protection since their development in the early 1990s. These insecticides have been subject to the same registration procedures as other groups of pesticides, thus meet the same environmental hazard standards as all crop protection products. However, during the last 10 years the debate regarding their possible detrimental impact on non-target organisms, particularly pollinators, has become increasingly contentious and widely debated. Against this background, legislators and politicians in some countries, have been faced with a need to make decisions on the future registration of some or all of this class of insecticides, based on published evidence that in some areas is incomplete or limited in extent. This has created much concern in agricultural communities that consider that the withdrawal of these insecticides is likely to have significant negative economic, socio-economic and environmental consequences. The proposed systematic map aims to address the following primary question: What is the available evidence for the effects of neonicotinoids used in arable crop production on non-target organisms and concentrations of residues in relevant matrices? The primary question will be divided into two sub-questions to gather research literature for (1) the effect of NNIs on non-target organisms (2) the occurrence of concentrations of NNIs in matrices of relevance to non-target organisms (i.e. exposure routes). The systematic map will focus on NNIs used in arable crop production: imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, thiacloprid and dinotefuran. Separate inclusion criteria have been developed for each sub-question. Traditional academic and grey literature will be searched for in English language and a searchable databases containing extracted meta-data from relevant included studies will be developed.
Highlights
Neonicotinoid insecticides (NNIs) have been routinely used in arable crop protection since their development in the early 1990s
NNIs in general are relatively persistent offering long-lasting residual crop protection further reducing the need for multiple applications of insecticide, water soluble and taken up by plants, selectively more toxic to insects than vertebrates increasing operator safety for example compared to organophosphates, and versatile in terms of application method compared to other classes of insecticide [2, 5]
NNIs have been rapidly adopted as plant protection products and in 2014 the market share of NNIs was more than 25 % of global insecticide sales [6]
Summary
Searches The review team conducted a scoping search to validate the search terms and test them against articles of relevance (Additional file 1). Websites of the specialist organisations listed below will be searched for links or references to relevant publications and data, including grey literature: UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs]. Relevant types of exposure Studies that investigate the effect on non-target organisms from the direct or indirect exposure of at least one of the following NNIs: imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, thiacloprid or dinotefuran. Sub-question 2: What is the available evidence for the occurrence of concentrations of imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, thiacloprid and dinotefuran in matrices of relevance to non-target organisms in arable crop production systems? Some studies may report both effects and concentrations of NNIs in non-target organism matrices In these cases the relevant study and meta-data will be catalogued for each sub-question and the articles linked as effect/ exposure studies. Author details 1 Harper Adams University, Newport, Shropshire TF108NB, UK. 2 Mistra Council for Evidence‐Based Environmental Management (EviEM), Stockholm Environment Institute, Box 24218, 104 51 Stockholm, Sweden
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