What really blew me away in the recent American Bird Conservancy report on neonics in the environment was that they persist in water for long periods, and kill off a number of organisms that represent the first couple of rungs of the food chain. There’s algae and aquatic plant life, then there are the tiny invertebrates and crustaceans that are food for tiny fish, who are food for larger fish, and so on.
So “sub-lethal” doses of neonics build up in the soil (where they are taken up by plants’ roots) and in water (i.e., water that may be used in irrigation), as well as in the pollen stores that bees accumulate. It’s not uncommon to see people warning in the direst of terms about threats to the environment and the food chain, but on this… When it comes to neonicotinoid pesticides, I’m really concerned.
