Abstract The increasing extent and intensity of agricultural land use has led to an increase in the volume of agrochemicals applied to the landscape, including those used to improve the nutritional quality of soils (fertilizers) as well as those used to control undesirable species in the agroecosystem (pesticides). Chemicals can disperse in the air and surface and ground water, leading to exposure of non-target organisms. Ruderal, disturbance-tolerant plants on which many flower-visiting insects rely are commonly exposed to these chemicals in agroecosystems. Our research questions were: 1) how does non-target exposure to agrochemicals affect plant growth? 2) what are the indirect effects of non-target exposure to agrochemicals on flower-visitation by insects? We designed a two year field experiment imitating field-realistic fertilizer run-off and non-target herbicide exposure scenarios to explore the impact of low concentrations of fertilizer and herbicide alone, and in combination, on communities of seven plant species, including six native perennials and one non-native annual commonly found in agricultural systems in Ireland (Cirsium vulgare, Epilobium hirsutum, Plantago lanceolata, Origanum vulgare, Filipendula ulmaria, Hypochaeris radicata, Phacelia tanacetifolia). We created field-realistic exposure scenarios by applying concentrations of mineral fertilizer similar to those detected in ground water, and glyphosate levels equivalent to 7.6 % of a standard field application, to the foliage and soil of the plots. We found low concentrations of fertilizer and herbicide affected plant growth: fertilised plants were taller when flowering, while plants exposed to herbicide flowered at shorter heights and produced shorter leaves. The size of the floral display had the largest effect on insect visitation, with larger floral displays significantly more likely to receive a visitor in a given sampling event. The size of the floral display also interacted significantly with the fertilizer treatment for both the abundance and species richness of floral visitors. Overall, our results suggest that there are direct and indirect effects of agrochemical exposure on plants in field margins, and that these effects change the interactions between ruderal plants and flower-visiting insects.

中文翻译：

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低浓度的肥料和除草剂会改变植物的生长以及与访花昆虫的相互作用

摘要 农业土地利用范围和强度的增加导致应用于景观的农用化学品数量增加，包括用于改善土壤（肥料）营养质量的农药以及用于控制农业生态系统中不良物种的农药。 （农药）。化学品可以扩散到空气、地表和地下水中，导致非目标生物的暴露。许多访花昆虫所依赖的粗野、耐干扰植物通常暴露于农业生态系统中的这些化学物质。我们的研究问题是：1) 非目标暴露于农用化学品如何影响植物生长？2) 非目标暴露于农药对昆虫访花的间接影响是什么？我们设计了一项为期两年的田间试验，模拟田间现实肥料流失和非目标除草剂暴露场景，以探索低浓度肥料和除草剂单独以及组合对七种植物群落的影响，包括六种本地多年生植物和爱尔兰农业系统中常见的一种非本地一年生植物（Cirsium v​​ulgare、Epilobium hirsutum、Plantago lanceolata、Origanum vulgare、Filipendula ulmaria、Hypochaeris radicata、Phacelia tanacetifolia）。我们通过施用与地下水中检测到的浓度相似的矿物肥料来创建现场真实的暴露场景，草甘膦水平相当于标准田间施用量的 7.6%，适用于地块的叶子和土壤。我们发现低浓度的肥料和除草剂会影响植物生长：受精植物开花时较高，而暴露于除草剂的植物开花高度较短，叶子较短。花卉展示的大小对昆虫访问的影响最大，在给定的采样事件中，较大的花卉展示显着更有可能接待访客。花卉展示的大小也与肥料处理显着相互作用，以提高花卉游客的数量和物种丰富度。总体而言，我们的结果表明，农用化学品暴露对田间边缘的植物有直接和间接的影响，