Bird species potentially exposed to pesticide-treated corn seeds in the continental United States.

In the United States, the use of pesticide-coated seeds in agriculture is a widely adopted practice. Consumption of treated crop seeds is a possible route of exposure of birds to pesticides. A combination of agronomic and bird life history information is used to identify those species most likely to consume freshly planted corn seeds.

Using the terrestrial residue exposure (T-REX) model to assess threatened and endangered bird exposure to and risk from pesticides.

The Terrestrial Residue Exposure (T-REX) model, a spreadsheet-based model developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), is used to estimate the concentrations of pesticides on some representative avian terrestrial food items after a foliar pesticide application. T-REX uses 6 categories of food items to assess exposure for birds. Different body size classes are used to estimate diet intake levels and to demonstrate different exposures for different size birds with various single component diets.