Predicting the side-effects of pesticides on beneficial invertebrates.

Abstract

Pesticide side-effects are notoriously difficult to predict, given the large number of interacting factors that mediate the toxic effects of the chemical and the subsequent recovery by the insect population. This review presents a series of novel approaches to this problem which may improve the accuracy of predictions in the future. Using modelling techniques, supported by new experimental methods it should be possible to determine optimum dose-rates for hazardous compounds, identify the species most at risk in the beneficial insect community and to rank pesticides in terms of the hazard that they pose. We also review the prospects for predicting rates of recovery by beneficial invertebrate populations.