Multiseasonal management of an agricultural pest. I: Development of the theory

A framework for analyzing the trade-off between economic yield from a crop and buildup of resistance to pesticide caused by repeated applications of pesticide is developed. The analysis begins with the case of age-independent pest dynamics, in which pests infest a field by arriving from an external pool. Initially, it is assumed that the pest genetics of interest are single locus, two allele, with resistance to pesticide dominant and susceptible pests more fit in the absence of spraying. The pesticide is applied only once during the season, with timing and intensity of the application as control variables. Interseasonal pest and crop dynamics are studied by solving appropriate ordinary differential equations. Intraseasonal pest dynamics are assumed to follow the Hardy-Weinberg formula. It is shown that the three class diploid model can be replaced by a two class haploid model with essentially no change in the results. A model based on partial differential equations is developed, for the case in which pest dynamics depend upon age, and it is shown that the partial differential equation model can be replaced by a pair of coupled ordinary differential equations. The main operational conclusion in this paper is that the timing of the application of pesticide can be used to control buildup of resistance and that the intensity of the application can be used to control the crop yield.     

On the optimal allocation of pesticides with increasing resistance: The case of alfalfa weevil

The problem of pesticide application under increasing pesticide resistance is explored. A theoretical model is developed to determine optimal pesticide use. This allocation is compared to the laissez-faire solution and to the centralized solution with incomplete information about pesticide resistance. The methodology is then applied in a case study on the Egyptian alfalfa weevil in California.     

Why does environmental compliance cost more than penalty?

In the environmental protection field of China, due to “lower law-breaking cost but higher law-abiding cost”, it is a common case that the enterprise chooses to break through the law on purpose. The punishment to the unlawful practices by the law directly decides the law-breaking cost of the enterprise, furthermore, influences the willingness to abide by the law and the trend to break through the law. The law-breaking cost of enterprises is jointly decided by the administrative liability, civil liability and criminal liability. However, in China, the enterprises breaking through the law are mainly penalized for the administrative liabilities, focusing less on the civil compensation liability on the environmental damage and criminal liabilities on the environmental crimes. Nevertheless, a complete environmental liability system is composed by administrative punishment, civil compensation and criminal sanction, none of which is dispensable. Therefore, the three layers defense could be established on punishing and deterring the environmental law-breakers. Considering all three aspects, administrative liability, civil liability and criminal liability, this paper analyzes the systemic disadvantages of the current environmental administrative punishment, civil compensation and criminal sanction in China, and investigates the legitimate reasons for the higher law-abiding cost compared with the law-breaking cost, and it is finalized with the measures and suggestions to solve this problem.     

Predicting the aquatic toxicity of commercial pesticide mixtures

Background

Previous studies reported on a large (> 80%) compliance between the observed toxicity of pesticide mixtures and their toxicity as predicted by the concept of concentration addition (CA). The present study extents these findings to commercially sold and frequently applied pesticide mixtures by investigating whether the aquatic toxicity of 66 herbicidal and 53 fungicidal combination products, i.e., authorized plant protection products that contain two or more active substances, can reliably be predicted by CA.

Results

In more than 50% of cases, the predicted and observed mixture toxicity deviated by less than factor 2. An indication for a synergistic interaction was only detected with regard to algal growth inhibition for mixtures of fungicides that inhibit different enzymes of ergosterol biosynthesis. The greatest degree of compliance between prediction and observation was found for the acute toxicity of fungicidal products towards Daphnia and fish, while the greatest degree of underestimation of product toxicity occurred for the acute toxicity of herbicidal products towards Daphnia and fish. Using the lowest available toxicity measures within taxonomic groups as the most conservative approach resulted in a bias towards overestimation of product toxicity, but did not eliminate cases of considerable underestimation of product toxicity.

Conclusions

The results suggest that the CA concept can be applied to predict the aquatic toxicity of commercial pesticide mixtures using the heterogeneous data typically available in a risk assessment context for a number of clearly identified combinations of test species and pesticide types with reasonably small uncertainty.     

Dynamic incentive regulation of diffuse pollution

Diffuse pollution from agriculture and extractive industries reduces air and water quality and contributes to climate change. We consider a setting in which a regulator must incentivize unobserved abatement given that firms have limited liability, and when they can enter and exit. We demonstrate that a simple dynamic incentive scheme can solve this difficult regulatory problem: firms pay a constant tax and receive rebates following periods of low pollution. We apply the model to water pollution from a fracking operation and simulate the contract to explore the volatility of the firm's payments and the costs of limited liability.     

农药与土壤腐殖物质的结合残留及其环境意义

农药或其代谢产物进入土壤环境后，可通过多种途径与土壤无机和有机组分形成结合残留物。越来越多的证据表明，在农药土壤环境行为的研究中，应重视其结合残留问题。文章阐述了农药在土壤中的主要结合残留机理，结合残留物在土壤腐殖物质各组分中的分布状况及其环境意义，并对该领域的深入研究提出建议。     

Multiseasonal management of an agricultural pest II: the economic optimization problem

The problem of selecting a pesticide application strategy in the face of increasing resistance to the pesticide in the pest population is dealt with. The grower in this situation may do better by sacrificing a portion of the present crop in return for a reduced resistance to future applications. The model presented represents an attempt to forge a compromise between excessive complexity, rendering the model difficult to study, and excessive simplicity, rendering the model useless. The effects of timing of the application of the pesticide within the season are discussed. The principle conclusions are the following: (i) If immigration of pests from refugia is significant then proper timing of the application of pesticide may be used to help alleviate resistance growth. (ii) Resistance growth may best be reduced by spraying earlier than what would otherwise be the best time. (iii) The value of the discount rate (and of the time horizon) has a profound effect on the nature of the optimal policy.     

Relative bioavailability of soil-bound chlordecone in growing lambs

The pollution of soil with the pesticide chlordecone (CLD) is a problem for the use of agricultural surfaces even years after its use has been forbidden. Therefore, the exposure of free-ranged animals such as ruminants needs to be investigated in order to assess the risk of contamination of the food chain. Indeed, measured concentrations could be integrated in a lowered extent if the soil binding would reduce the bioavailability of the pesticide. This bioavailability of soil-bound CLD in a heavily polluted andosol has been investigated relatively of CLD given via spiked oil. Twenty-four weaned lambs were exposed to graded doses of 2, 4 or 6 μg CLD/kg body weight during 15 days via the contaminated soil in comparison to spiked oil. The concentration of this pesticide has been determined in two target tissues: blood serum and kidney fat. The relative bioavailability (RBA) corresponds to the slope ratio between the test matrix-contaminated soil- in comparison to the reference matrix oil. The RBA of the soil-bound CLD was not found to significantly differ from the reference matrix oil in lambs meaning that the pesticide ingested by grazing ruminants would not be sequestered by soil binding. Therefore, CLD from soil gets bioavailable within the intestinal level and exposure to contaminated soil has to be integrated in risk assessments.     

Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability as a Boundary-Value Problem

The Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability is traditionally viewed as an initial-value problem, wherein wave perturbations of a two-layer shear flow grow over time into billows and eventually generate vertical mixing. Yet, the instability can also be viewed as a boundary-value problem. In such a framework, there exists an upstream condition where a lighter fluid flows over a denser fluid, wave perturbations grow downstream to eventually overturn some distance away from the point of origin. As the reverse of the traditional problem, this flow is periodic in time and exhibits instability in space. A natural application is the mixing of a warmer river emptying into a colder lake or reservoir, or the salt-wedge estuary. This study of the KH instability from the perspective of a boundary-value problem is divided into two parts. Firstly, the instability theory is conducted with a real frequency and complex horizontal wavenumber, and the main result is that the critical wavelength at the instability threshold is longer in the boundary-value than in the initial-value situation. Secondly, mass, momentum and energy budgets are performed between the upstream, unmixed state on one side, and the downstream, mixed state on the other, to determine under which condition mixing is energetically possible. Cases with a rigid lid and free surface are treated separately. And, although the algebra is somewhat complicated, both end results are identical to the criterion for complete mixing in the initial-value problem.     

农药在土壤中迁移的研究方法

农药对地下水的污染已日益为人们密切关注，本文详细介绍了用土壤柱和土壤薄层层析法研究农药在土壤迁移行为用于预测或评价农药对地下水污染程度的研究方法。     

Ecological risk assessment of pesticide residues in Taihu Lake wetland, China

As a major ecosystem type, wetland provides invaluable ecological services. Environmental pollution, especially pesticides pollution should be paid more attention to keep wetlands healthy. Based on the risk quotient method, coupled with a probabilistic risk assessment model, this paper proposed a methodology suitable for ecological risk assessment of pesticide residues for wetland ecosystems. As an important industrializing and ecologically vulnerable area in China, the Taihu Lake wetland was chosen for the case study. The risks of eight pesticides in Taihu Lake wetland were assessed, as single substances and in mixtures. The assessment indicates that risks of the representative species are not significant. In general, the herbicide is found to be more toxic for algae, whereas insecticides pose more risks to zooplankton, insect and fish. For each pesticide in the wetland, the ecological risk it poses is acceptable. But the combined ecological risk posed by mixture can harm more than 10% of species of the wetland ecosystem, mainly dominated by dichlorvos, dimethoate and malathion contributions. These results imply that pesticide residues have been posing pressures on the ecosystem of the Taihu Lake wetland. It is recommended that proper countermeasures should be implemented to reduce the risks.     

Experimental investigation of the efficiency of triple rinsing of agricultural containers regarding their characterization as non-hazardous wastes

The efficiency of water rinsing for removing fenthion from non-combustible used pesticide containers was investigated. Four hundred empty containers from four olive oil producing areas in Greece were studied. Following triple rinsing cleaning procedures, the amount of fenthion retained in the container ranged from 0.01% to 0.1% w/w of its initial concentration. Extraction was accomplished with acetone, and the extracts were analyzed with a capillary gas chromatographic system coupled with flame ionization detector. The results obtained showed that triple rinsing is an effective procedure for removing fenthion from used pesticide containers, since the remaining pesticide concentration was below the legislated threshold value. Consequently, the containers can be handled as non-hazardous solid wastes.     

Evaluation of pesticides multiresidue contamination of khat leaves from Jazan region,Kingdome Saudi Arabia,using solid-phase extraction – gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

The habit of khat chewing is widespread with a deep-rooted sociocultural tradition in these regions and as such poses a public health problem. The use of pesticides is considered to be indispensable practice for the production of adequate food supply for the increasing demands by the global population and for control of insect-borne diseases. Thus, contamination of the environment with pesticides and entry of these chemicals into the food chain is unavoidable especially in developing countries. The main objective of our current study was to assess pesticide pollution of khat leaves (unknown origin) obtained while being smuggled into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to be used in Jazan area. A total of 120 khat leaf samples were extracted using solid-phase extraction followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis for the presence of 69 standard pesticides using an internal standard, tiphenyl phosphate. No pesticide residues were detected in all the studied samples. These data as preliminary and more experiments need to be performed to confirm our present findings. Routine monitoring of the pesticide residues is important for the prevention, control, and reduction of environmental pollution and also for legal decisions to minimize health risks.     

The voluntary approach to externality problems: A survey of the critics

The literature critical of the Coase Theorem is synthesized. One conclusion is that bilateral bargaining in a voluntary, frictionless setting results in optimality only by accident, if at all. This is because of the problem of threats and the problem of small numbers bargaining behavior (it is not marginal). The second conclusion is that the placement of liability in general affects the allocation of resources. The exception is when there are no income effects, no transactions costs, and no nonseparabilities. But the existence of externalities implies transaction costs are high, which in turn implies that liability matters.     

福美双对斑马鱼胚胎Ⅲ型脱碘酶基因表达的影响

福美双是一种二硫代甲氨基甲酸盐类农药,在我国应用较为广泛,但其残留毒性引起广泛重视。试验采用斑马鱼胚胎作为动物模型,探讨了福美双对斑马鱼胚胎的毒性。结果表明福美双导致斑马鱼胚胎孵化率下降,在受精后72 h(72 hpf),对照组的孵化率是100%,1×10-7mol·L-1福美双染毒组的孵化率降至46%,而1×10-6mol·L-1福美双染毒致使孵化率降到0%。III型脱碘酶与斑马鱼的发育和变态息息相关,以上2种浓度的福美双在24 hpf分别增高了III型脱碘酶基因的表达6.71和14.84倍,结果表明福美双具有一定的内分泌搅乱作用,也表明斑马鱼胚胎作为农药安全评价模型的理论可行性。     

Hybridization,agency discretion,and implementation of the U.S. Endangered Species Act

The U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that the “best available scientific and commercial data” be used to protect imperiled species from extinction and preserve biodiversity. However, it does not provide specific guidance on how to apply this mandate. Scientific data can be uncertain and controversial, particularly regarding species delineation and hybridization issues. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had an evolving hybrid policy to guide protection decisions for individuals of hybrid origin. Currently, this policy is in limbo because it resulted in several controversial conservation decisions in the past. Biologists from FWS must interpret and apply the best available science to their recommendations and likely use considerable discretion in making recommendations for what species to list, how to define those species, and how to recover them. We used semistructured interviews to collect data on FWS biologists’ use of discretion to make recommendations for listed species with hybridization issues. These biologists had a large amount of discretion to determine the best available science and how to interpret it but generally deferred to the scientific consensus on the taxonomic status of an organism. Respondents viewed hybridization primarily as a problem in the context of the ESA, although biologists who had experience with hybridization issues were more likely to describe it in more nuanced terms. Many interviewees expressed a desire to continue the current case‐by‐case approach for handling hybridization issues, but some wanted more guidance on procedures (i.e., a “flexible” hybrid policy). Field‐level information can provide critical insight into which policies are working (or not working) and why. The FWS biologists’ we interviewed had a high level of discretion, which greatly influenced ESA implementation, particularly in the context of hybridization.     

Liability Funding and Superfund Clean-Up Remedies

The debate about Superfund liability has treated financing as a distinct issue from the efficiency of clean-up. However, this paper presents a model of EPA decision-making in which liability funding may increase or decrease the extent of clean-up. It then estimates this effect using data on remedies selected at National Priorities List sites and on the characteristics of liable parties. The results suggest that the EPA responds to concentrated private interests, selecting less extensive clean-up when liable parties are expected to bear a large share of costs. This effect should be considered in evaluating liability approaches to environmental protection.     

Improving multi-site benefit functions via Bayesian model averaging: A new approach to benefit transfer

A benefit function transfer obtains estimates of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the evaluation of a given policy at a site by combining existing information from different study sites. This has the advantage that more efficient estimates are obtained, but it relies on the assumption that the heterogeneity between sites is appropriately captured in the benefit transfer model. A more expensive alternative to estimate WTP is to analyze only data from the policy site in question while ignoring information from other sites. We make use of the fact that these two choices can be viewed as a model selection problem and extend the set of models to allow for the hypothesis that the benefit function is only applicable to a subset of sites. We show how Bayesian model averaging (BMA) techniques can be used to optimally combine information from all models.The Bayesian algorithm searches for the set of sites that can form the basis for estimating a benefit function and reveals whether such information can be transferred to new sites for which only a small data set is available. We illustrate the method with a sample of 42 forests from U.K. and Ireland. We find that BMA benefit function transfer produces reliable estimates and can increase about 8 times the information content of a small sample when the forest is ‘poolable’.     

土壤中结合残留态农药的生态环境效应

土壤中农药结合残留态的形成，导致其活性暂时降低，但并未从土壤中消失，在特定的环境条件下又重新释放到环境中并表现出较高的生物有效性，从而威胁农产品质量安全与环境质量。文章论述了土壤中结合残留态农药的定义、形成过程及影响因素、老化和释放过程及机制。土壤中结合残留态农药主要通过吸附过程、化学反应及物理镶嵌等作用而形成，其形成过程受农药的结构和化学特性、土壤理化性质、环境条件和农艺措施的影响。老化是化合物和土壤组分紧密结合，减少被普通提取方法提取出来的数量，降低了化合物的生物有效性。同时老化的物质在土壤环境条件改变的情况下又重新释放到土壤溶液中或进行矿化，此过程可以通过物理一化学机制或生物化学作用而发生。重新释放到环境中的结合残留态农药又表现出较高的生物有效性，可能被植物、动物或微生物所吸收，并沿食物链富集和放大或进入水体污染水产品和造成水质恶化，从而威胁人体健康。文章还分析了土壤结合残留态农药可能带来的环境问题，提出了此问题今后研究的方向。     

Transfer rate of pesticide residues from medicinal plants in different types of extractive solutions

Abstract

Starting from the suspicion that the medicinal herbs may contain traces of pesticides and taking into account the risks of patients being exposed to contaminated products, the aim of this research was to evaluate the pesticide residues and the degree of their transfer (%) in three types of preparations (infusion, decoctionand cold maceration), for four medicinal plant species very often used in phytotherapy (Rosmarini folium, Menthae folium, Saturejae herba and Basilica herba). For each type of plant product, four samples were purchased from different manufacturers and they have been analyzed using gas chromatography- tandem mass spectrometry. One out of four samples of the same plant species contain at least one pesticide residue above the maximum level and shows a significant transfer of these residues in aqueous extractive solutions during extraction. The highest rate of pesticide transfer from medicinal plants was identified in infusions, recommended by many manufacturers.