News

Report published on the evaluation of soil biodiversity via DNA from soil organism samples

Germany still lacks a nationwide and standardised survey of soil organisms, although a comprehensive infrastructure for such a survey is available with approx. 800 permanent soil monitoring sites (Bodendauer­beobachtungsflächen, BDF). At present, not all federal states perform biodiversity surveys on their permanent soil monitoring sites. This is most likely due to the fact that the […]

New publication on chemical sensitivity of earthworms from field populations

The environmental risk of pesticides for nontarget soil macroorganisms has mainly been assessed using the compost earthworm Eisenia fetida. However, E. fetida does not occur in agroecosystems and it is generally less sensitive than other earthworm species. Thus, the extrapolation of its response to pesticides to other earthworm species may lead to uncertainties in the […]

Logo of the project ‘Risk Assessment Innovation for Low-Risk Pesticides’ (RATION)

New project started: RATION

Low-risk pesticides including biopesticides such as plant extracts, semiochemicals and microbial pesticides shall play a large role in substituting synthetic pesticides according to the Green Deal initiative of the European Union. Further low-risk solutions (phages, protists, microbial consortia, and double-stranded RNA pesticides) are expected to reach the market in the next years. There are ongoing efforts by the European Commission to establish specific risk assessment schemes for such low-risk pesticides…