Exposure assessment for terrestrial non-target arthropods

Abstract

Concerns regarding the potential of pesticides to harm terrestrial non-target arthropod populations have led to the increased use of ecotoxicological test systems for terrestrial Non-target Arthropod risk assessment. Whilst some useful guidance on terrestrial invertebrate test systems is available, there are significant gaps in guidance for terrestrial non-target arthropod exposure estimates. The typical exposure in the standard test systems is by application of the test substance at the field rate (i. e. gram substance per hectare field) on to a two dimensional surface. However, under field conditions such a spray deposit will be diluted over the total available 3-Dimensional plant and soil surface. The recommendation is to use published leaf area index and crop interception values to standardize terrestrial dilution factors, which can then be used to predict exposure on a 3-Dimensional plant surface. Based on average crop/time specific LAI data for 26 crops, a surrogate off-crop dilution factor of 12 was calculated which can be used to convert 2-Dimensional spray drift exposure to 3-Dimensional off-crop plant surface exposure. Another significant terrestrial exposure guidance gap is how to calculate predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) for multiple application products. Based on spray interval and half-life data from 32 representative multiple application plant protection products, the typical worst-case PECs for accumulation of residues were calculated after up to 8 applications. These data showed that Multiple Application Factors (MAFs = accumulated PEC/initial PEC), increased from 1 to 3.5 after 1 to 8 applications, respectively. Finally, overall 90th percentile spray deposit values have been proposed for deriving off-crop multiple applications PECs (1 to 8 applications) based on published spray drift data. The recommended equations for terrestrial exposure assessment include the use of:-application rate, the 90th percentile drift value, the multiple application factors (MAF) and the standard dilution factor (for 3-Dimensional plant surface). This proposed terrestrial non-target arthropod exposure scheme is comparable with other first tier exposure assessment schemes eg aquatic exposure assessment.