Long-term relationships among pesticide applications, mobility, and soil erosion in a vineyard watershed

Journal or Publishing Institution: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Study: https://web.archive.org/web/20180827175245/http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/10/08/1411512111.short

Author(s): Sabatier, P., Poulenard, J., Fanget, B., Reyss, J.L., Develle, A.L., Wilhelm, B., Ployon, E., Pignol, C., Naffrechoux, E., Dorioz, J.M. and Montuelle, B.

Article Type: Journal Publication

Record ID: 2145

Abstract: Agricultural pesticide use has increased worldwide during the last several decades, but the long-term fate, storage, and transfer dynamics of pesticides in a changing environment are poorly understood. Many pesticides have been progressively banned, but in numerous cases, these molecules are stable and may persist in soils, sediments, and ice. Many studies have addressed the question of their possible remobilization as a result of global change. In this article, we present a retro-observation approach based on lake sediment records to monitor micropollutants and to evaluate the long-term succession and diffuse transfer of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticide treatments in a vineyard catchment in France. The sediment allows for a reliable reconstruction of past pesticide use through time, validated by the historical introduction, use, and banning of these organic and inorganic pesticides in local vineyards. Our results also revealed how changes in these practices affect storage conditions and, consequently, the pesticides’ transfer dynamics. For example, the use of postemergence herbicides (glyphosate), which induce an increase in soil erosion, led to a release of a banned remnant pesticide (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT), which had been previously stored in vineyard soil, back into the environment. Management strategies of ecotoxicological risk would be well served by recognition of the diversity of compounds stored in various environmental sinks, such as agriculture soil, and their capability to become sources when environmental conditions change.

Keywords: Pesticides, Glyphosate, DDT, Lake Sediment, Soil Erosion, Agricultural-Resources, Agrochemistry, Catchment Scale, Plant Pests, Soil Resources, erosion, fungicide residues, fungicides, herbicide residues, herbicides, insecticide residues, insecticides, persistence, pesticide residues, pollutants, polluted water, sediment, water pollution, water quality, watersheds, catchment areas, fungistats, water composition and quality, weedicides, weedkillers, dicophane, France, DDT (pesticide), Ecotoxicology, Lakes, Pesticide Application, postemergent weed control, risk assessment, sediments, vineyard soils, vineyards, Ecosystem, Soil, Waste Water, Chemistry

Citation: Sabatier, P., Poulenard, J., Fanget, B., Reyss, J.L., Develle, A.L., Wilhelm, B., Ployon, E., Pignol, C., Naffrechoux, E., Dorioz, J.M. and Montuelle, B., 2014. Long-term relationships among pesticide applications, mobility, and soil erosion in a vineyard watershed. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(44), pp.15647-15652.