Nematode Community of a Natural Grassland Responds Sensitively to the Broad-Spectrum Fungicide Mancozeb in Soil Microcosms.

Fungicides make up the largest part of total pesticide use, with the dithiocarbamate mancozeb being widely applied as a nonsystemic contact pesticide to protect a wide range of field crops against fungal diseases. Although nematodes are key drivers of soil functioning, data on effects of fungicides, and especially mancozeb, on these nontarget organisms are scarce. Therefore, the effects of mancozeb on a soil nematode community from a natural grassland were assessed in small-scale soil microcosms.

On the balance between practical relevance and standardization - Testing the effects of zinc and pyrene on native nematode communities in soil microcosms.

Soils are among the most densely inhabited and biodiverse habitats on our planet, and many important soil ecosystem services depend on the health condition of the native soil fauna. Anthropogenic stress such as chemical pollution acting on the native soil fauna might jeopardize these functions. Laboratory microcosm tests are an appropriate tool for assessing the risk of chemicals on the native soil fauna and can be regarded as intermediate tier tests, bridging the gap between single species toxicity tests and field testing.

Comparing the effects of fludioxonil on non-target soil invertebrates using ecotoxicological methods from single-species bioassays to model ecosystems.

The lower tier toxicity tests used for risk assessment of plant protection products are conducted with single species, only regarding direct effects of the tested substances. However, it is not clear, if lower tier tests are able to protect in situ soil communities, as these tests are not able to account for direct and indirect effects of chemicals on multi-species systems in natural soil communities. This knowledge gap between single-species tests and field studies can be bridged using model ecosystems (microcosms), which allow for the assessment of direct and indirect effects of the compounds under evaluation.

Small-scale microcosms to detect chemical induced changes in soil nematode communities--effects of crystal proteins and Bt-maize plant material.

Small-scale laboratory microcosms (30 g soil in 50 ml tubes) were evaluated for their suitability to assess the impact of chemicals on in situ soil nematode communities. For this purpose, appropriate conditions in the microcosms were explored to ensure stable conditions and a homogenous distribution of the nematodes. Then, the microcosms were used to assess the toxicity of insecticidal crystal proteins (Cry1A.