how pesticides threaten biodiversity

Jérôme Moreau is a researcher at the University of Burgundy. Every morning, in the Zone Atelier Plaine Val de sèvres in Deux-Sèvres, he captures birds in nets, and observes their behavior. “The more a bird moves, the more active it will be, the more it will defend itself when we approach, and the more energy it has to invest in it”, he explains. They then undergo a comprehensive health examination, during which they are banded, measured and weighed. These tests are carried out on more than a thousand birds, which nest near cultivated fields, some in organic farming, others in conventional farming. The experience is unique in France. For 30 years, a team of scientists has been working with several hundred farmers to study the consequences of pesticide use on insects and birds and on agricultural yields

Less abundant birds

“For all the species that we capture, when we look at these behavior marks, we realize that the birds that we capture in hedgerows surrounded by conventional agriculture are much less energetic, struggle less, sing less, cry less (…)“, observes the researcher. Birds are also less abundant. On average, populations have reduced by a third in 15 years. They no longer have enough insects to feed on the agricultural plains.

Vincent Bretagnolle, researcher at the CNRS, studies the impacts of the use of pesticides and fertilizers on living organisms. “Herbicides kill the flora, so all [l]Wildflower species are eliminated from conventional fields, and insecticides eliminate insects”he explains.