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Federal listing protection has been finalized for two Midwest prairie butterfly species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) due to dramatic population declines. The Dakota skipper has been listed as a threatened species, and the Powershiek skipperling has been listed as an endangered species under the act, according to a final rule published Friday. The rule also specifies a special 4(d) exemption for the threatened skipper. The listing is the result of a 2011 settlement agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), one of the agency's most frequent litigants. The settlement created a five-year work plan to speed listing decisions for hundreds of species across the country. "It is great news that these remarkable little butterflies now have the Endangered Species Act protection that will save them and their beautiful prairie homes," Tierra Curry, a CBD senior scientist was quoted as saying in the group's response to the listing. "Protecting the last high-quality prairie habitats for the butterflies will keep these special places safe, along with all the other plants and animals that need them to survive."

A parasitical disease normally found in domestic poultry is rapidly spreading to our native Red and Black Grouse populations. Cryptosporidia is a respiratory disease of farmed chickens and turkeys caused by a parasitic protozoan called Cryptosporidium baileyi, and was first discovered in 'wild' gamebirds in 2010, in an infected Red Grouse on the North Pennine Moors. Birds with symptoms had already been reported from the same area the previous year. Since then several other moors had reported the disease, prompting scientists from the Game and Wildfowl Conservation Trust (GWCT) to circulate a questionnaire, asking shooting estate whether any of their shot birds had exhibited the symptoms of the disease: swollen eyelids and a mucus discharge from the nostrils and eyes. Their results have just been published in the journal Veterinary Record. About 68 per cent of the 150 landowners questioned responded, reporting that 48 per cent of moors had found birds with these symptoms. Clearly the disease is spreading rapidly, and appears to be currently present in about 3.7 per cent of Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) examined.

The closer women live to areas of heavy agricultural pesticide use during pregnancy, the more likely that their children will have autism spectrum disorders, according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives. The University of California researchers stated that this is the third study to find strong links between autism and proximity exposures to agricultural pesticides, particularly organophosphates, during pregnancy. The research was part of the population-based, case control Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and Environment (CHARGE) study and involved 970 children. Commercial pesticide application data was mapped in relation to the mothers’ residential addresses during pregnancy, and the children were tested for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and developmental disabilities. “Approximately one-third of CHARGE study mothers lived, during pregnancy, within 1.5 km (just under 1 mile) of an agricultural pesticide application,” wrote the researchers. “Proximity to organophosphates at some point during gestation was associated with a 60% increased risk for ASD.” The figures were even higher for third-trimester exposures and second-trimester chlorpyrifos applications.

Imidacloprid is a relatively new insecticide in the chloronicotinyl nitroguanidine class. Imidacloprid has a wide variety of uses; it is used on cotton and vegetable crops, turf grass and ornamental plant products, in indoor and outdoor cockroach control products and in termite control products. Imidacloprid acts as a competitive inhibitor at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the nervous system resulting in impairment of normal nerve function. Scientific literature on human imidacloprid poisoning has been relatively sparse. We report three subjects who presented with imidacloprid poisoning.

The metabolic degradation and persistence of imidacloprid in paddy field soil were investigated following two applications of imidacloprid at 20 and 80 g a.i. ha−1 at an interval of 10 days. The soil samples were collected at various time intervals. The limit of quantification for the analysis of imidacloprid and its metabolites was obtained at the concentration of 0.01 mg kg−1. The initial deposits of total imidacloprid were found to be 0.44 and 1.61 mg kg−1 following second applications. These residues could not be detected after 60 and 90 days following second applications of imidacloprid at lower and higher dosages, respectively. In soil, urea metabolite was found to be the maximum, followed by olefine, nitrosimine, 6-chloronicotinic acid, 5-hydroxy and nitroguanidine. The half-life values (t 1/2) of imidacloprid were worked out to be 12.04 and 11.14 days, respectively, when applied at lower and higher doses, respectively.

A leading zoologist has found evidence that genes used to modify crops can jump the species barrier and cause bacteria to mutate, prompting fears that GM technology could pose serious health risks. A four-year study by Professor Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a respected German zoologist, found that the alien gene used to modify oilseed rape had transferred to bacteria living inside the guts of honey bees. The research - which has yet to be published and has not been reviewed by fellow scientists - is highly significant because it suggests that all types of bacteria could become contaminated by genes used in genetically modified technology, including those that live inside the human digestive system. If this happened, it could have an impact on the bacteria's vital role in helping the human body fight disease, aid digestion and facilitate blood clotting.

Herbicides are widely used pesticides that affect plants by changing their chemistry. In doing so, herbicides might also influence the quality of plants as food for herbivores. To study the effects of herbicides on host plant quality, 3 plant species (Plantago lanceolata L., P. major L., and Ranunculus acris L.) were treated with sublethal rates of either a sulfonylurea (Atlantis WG, Bayer CropScience) or a glyphosate (Roundup LB Plus, Monsanto) herbicide, and the development of caterpillars of the cabbage moth Mamestra brassicae L. that fed on these plants was observed.
Of the 6 tested plant–herbicide combinations, 1 combination (R. acris + sulfonylurea herbicide) resulted in significantly lower caterpillar weight, increased time to pupation, and increased overall development time compared with larvae that were fed unsprayed plants. These results might be caused by a lower nutritional value of these host plants or increased concentrations of secondary metabolites that are involved in plant defense. The results of the present and other studies suggest potential risks to herbivores that feed on host plants treated with sublethal rates of herbicides. However, as the effects of herbicides on host plant quality appear to be species-specific and as there are numerous plant–herbicide–herbivore relationships in agricultural landscapes, a general reduction in herbicide contamination of nontarget habitats (e.g., field margins) might mitigate the negative effects of herbicides on host plant quality.

The neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid is among the pesticides that most frequently exceed current water quality standards in Dutch surface waters. Recent research shows that effects of imidacloprid on water organisms occur at concentrations below these standards. Mayflies appear to be particularly sensitive with chronic No Observed Effect Concentrations in the nanogram per liter range. The aim of this study was to derive updated water quality standards in accordance with the methodology of the European Water Framework Directive by evaluating the available recent literature on acute and chronic ecotoxicity of imidacloprid to aquatic organisms in laboratory and semi-field experiments. It is concluded that the standard for longterm exposure should be lowered to 8.3 nanogram per liter, the standard for short-term concentration peaks can be maintained at the current value of 0.2 microgram per liter. The European Commission set restrictions to the use of imidacloprid-based products to reduce the risks for bees and the Dutch national authorities issued emission reduction measures to protect aquatic life. Future monitoring data will ultimately reveal if these measures are sufficient to meet the newly proposed standards.