Distribution of residual agricultural pesticides and their impact assessment on the survival of an endangered species

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the distribution of spent pesticides in an agro-farming area and to evaluate their impact on the ecological risk for an endangered species combing the health risk assessment concept with the modelling algorithm proposed by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). An agricultural area in western Taiwan was chosen to investigate the ecological risk on Prionailurus bengalensis. Their ecological stability was evaluated in the context of the residuals' distribution of the spent pesticides in the investigated area. The pesticide residues accumulated and correlated highly to the adverse health impact on the leopard cat. In the present study, 67 pesticides were detected from 79 collected soil samples. The hazard index (HI) was found related to land use patterns and the HI values in Yuanli and Zhuolan were significantly higher than those in the other areas, increasing poisoning probability of the leopard cat. The locations of agro-chemical utilization were highly overlapped with leopard cats' activity zone, supporting the hypothesis that pesticide residues posed a potential threat to the leopard cats' health. The proposed risk assessment framework was capable of estimating the risk caused by pesticide residues and no similar study has been reported before.

Keywords: Endangered species; Leopard cat; Pesticide; Prionailurus bengalensis; Risk assessment.