researchers evaluate the impact of over 1000 chemical molecules on insects

by time news

2024-10-24 20:40:00

DESCRIBED – The findings show previously unknown changes in the development and behavior of fly larvae.

Wildlife populations have declined by 73% over the past fifty years, and insects have not been spared. What is the role of pesticides in this massacre? A study from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory offers an assessment of the link between chemicals and the decline of insect populations. By exposing millions of fly larvae to more than a thousand chemical molecules found in pesticides at increasing concentrations, “ we observed a slowdown in their development and a change in their behavior », indicates Lautaro Gandara, first author of the paper.

« What’s new about this study is that the researchers didn’t just look at whether the insects died or survived after exposure to a pesticide. The analysis went further, examining their behaviors, including the most subtle ones », explains Jean Baptiste Masson, director of the Institute’s structure…

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