Predicting, measuring and minimizing the effects of pesticides on farmland wildlife on intensively managed arable land in Britain.

Abstract

The decline of the grey partridge (Perdix perdix L.) in Britain over the past thirty years is used to illustrate how it is thought that pesticides may have affected some species of farmland wildlife on intensively farmed areas of lowland Britain. Long-term monitoring studies are described that have been used to predict annual rates of chick mortality and how well these explain the observed declines of grey partridges.

Two methods are investigated to minimize the effects of pesticides on farmland wildlife.

I. The screening of compounds to assess the extent of the spectrum of activity against non-pest, non-target insects. Combined laboratory and field trials are described in a screening process and two examples are cited.

2. The modification of pesticide use on small areas of cereal fields for the benefit of farmland wildlife. This involves the exclusion of certain pesticides at certain times of the year on limited areas of cereal fields.