Pesticide applications in agriculture and their effects on birds: An overview

Avifauna is one of the successful diverse and evolutionary groups and occurs in the tropics in large numbers as compared to temperate zone. Fluctuation in the diversity of birds provides early warning of environmental problems. The threats to their community structure due to various reasons. Agricultural pesticides have been shown to affect 87 percent of the bird species that are threatened globally. Over the past four decades, many farmland avian species have shown alarming declines in numbers and/or range. Approximately five million plenty of pesticides are used annually in the world, of which about seventieth is used for agriculture causing decline in avian population in the agro-agriculture ecosystem. In this review an attempt has been made to focus on the effects of pesticide applications on birds. The possible health effects of pesticide applications on avifauna has been discussed as well. Chapter contents Introduction .................................................................................................................... 130 Pesticide use in agriculture ................................................................................................ 131 Effects of organochlorines (OCs) or chlorinated hydrocarbons on birds ....................................... 132 Acute toxicity of chlorinated hydrocarbon ......................................................................... 132 Sublethal toxicity of chlorinated hydrocarbon ..................................................................... 132 Effects of organophosphates (OPs) and carbamates (CMs) on birds ............................................ 133 Acute toxicity of OPs and CMs ........................................................................................ 133 Sublethal toxicity of OPs and CMs .................................................................................... 134 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 135 References ...................................................................................................................... 135