Collembola are Among the Most Pesticide-Sensitive Soil Fauna Groups: A Meta-Analysis

Pesticides are a major concern because of their deleterious impacts on biodiversity and on the ecological functions provided by living organisms. Although earthworms are well studied, smaller-sized organisms, such as Collembola, also contribute to the agroecosystem functioning, and their sensitivity to pesticides makes them good bioindicators of soil quality. Using data from 21 publications, we performed a meta-analysis to compare the pesticide sensitivity of Collembola with other soil invertebrate groups and discuss the relevance of including tests on representatives of this microarthropods group in European regulation tests. We defined a paired observation as the median lethal concentration or the median effect concentration values for both Collembola species and another soil fauna group (Acari, enchytraeids, earthworms, isopods, and nematodes) under a unique combination of author, year, substance, and type of soil (61 and 57 paired observations for reproduction and lethal effects). In some studies, paired comparisons were available for several groups of soil fauna. We demonstrated that Collembola are among the most sensitive soil fauna groups to a variety of pesticides, notably for effects on reproduction, mostly compared with earthworms and enchytraeids. Because there are several modes of exposure and explaining factors, we suggest moving from a single-species study to a food-chain approach integrating different taxonomic groups. Differences between soil fauna groups in sensitivity or response to pesticides could have effects on soil communities and also on soil functions. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2333-2341. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.