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Is deliberate pesticide poisoning of wildlife impacting local insect communities? Wildlife and environmental forensic investigations in southern Spain present an opportunity for collaborative entomological monitoring

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Abstract

In many European regions, people may use pesticides, particularly carbamate and organophosphorus insecticides, to deliberately poison wildlife in response to various resource-based conflicts. Repercussions of this largely illegal practice are well-documented in macro-scavengers (vultures). In southern Spain, our environmental agents are trained to gather evidence at suspected scenes of wildlife/environmental crime, including arthropods found at animal carcasses and prepared baits. Between 2008 and 2019, pesticide residues were detected in a subset of pooled or uniquely insect samples (n = 46 instances; 12 consisting solely of arthropods). Four carbamate pesticides and/or associated metabolites were detected: aldicarb/aldicarb sulfoxide, carbofuran/3-hydroxycarbofuran, methomyl/methiocarb, either qualitatively (thin layer chromatography) or quantitatively (liquid/gas chromatography), reaching concentrations of 3.05 mg/kg (aldicarb) and 9.98 mg/kg (methiocarb). Residues have mostly been detected in beetles, but also blowfly, centipede, woodlouse and notably, European honey bee, in a suspected case of deliberate hive poisoning.

Implications for insect conservation: None of the aforementioned information is currently being recorded or disseminated for arthropod conservation purposes. We therefore aimed to (1) generate awareness of the deliberate wildlife poisoning practice as it may affect local necrophagous and associated insect communities; (2) share our process of sample collection, species identification and toxicological analyses to meet wildlife/environmental crime investigation requirements; (3) stimulate interest in collaborative studies to more systematically examine/document any potential effects of the practice on susceptible arthropods species relative to their population status and ecosystem services provision; (4) outline how this additionally gathered entomological information could also be used to strengthen wildlife/environmental forensics investigations.

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Notes

  1. When it was necessary to pool samples in order to attain a volume of 5.0 g, as required for analysis. This decreases specificity in identifying the source of detected residues, but increases the likelihood of detecting residues if present.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our colleagues, the environmental agents in the field and at the CAD laboratory for their dedication and scrupulous attention to detail during evidence gathering, sample examination and necropsy and toxicological analysis. Thanks to the Dirección General de Medio Natural, Biodiversidad y Espacios Protegidos, Junta de Andalucía, and the particularly important Strategy for the Control of Poisons—for their continuous support. We acknowledge members of the REDIRIS forum (https://www.rediris.es/list/info/entomologia.html) for their assistance in refining the identification of certain species. Earlier versions of this manuscript, especially the main points we wished to convey, were greatly improved by the insightful feedback of two anonymous reviewers.

Funding

The work reported on here is conducted as routine analysis rather than research. As such, it did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental and Water Agency of Andalusia, Environment and Sustainability Directorate. Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, Center for Analysis and Diagnosis of Wildlife - CAD, Avda. Lope de Vega, 9, 29010, Málaga, Spain

    Isabel Fernández Verón & Irene Zorrilla

  2. Working Dogs for Conservation, 10971 Rustic Road, Missoula, MT, 59802, USA

    Ngaio L. Richards

  3. Department of Wildlife Forensic Sciences and Conservation, Maples Center for Forensic Medicine, University of Florida, 4800 SW 35th Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA

    Ngaio L. Richards

Authors
  1. Isabel Fernández Verón
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  2. Irene Zorrilla
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  3. Ngaio L. Richards
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Contributions

IFV and IZ were responsible for data collection, material preparation and initial analysis (in relation to individual cases). The first draft of the manuscript, including collation of data and secondary analysis, was written/performed by NLR, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Isabel Fernández Verón.

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Fernández Verón, I., Zorrilla, I. & Richards, N.L. Is deliberate pesticide poisoning of wildlife impacting local insect communities? Wildlife and environmental forensic investigations in southern Spain present an opportunity for collaborative entomological monitoring. J Insect Conserv 25, 511–519 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-021-00319-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-021-00319-6

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