Not only during application times: pesticide mixtures are present in soil and plants all year round

Aerial photo. Pesticide application in vineyards. Photo: Carsten A. Brühl

Landau, 21.01.2025 – In conventional agriculture, synthetic chemical pesticides are used in various crops such as arable farming, vegetable growing and viticulture. A study by the RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, recently published in the journal “Scientific Reports”, is the first to examine pesticide contamination over the course of a year. It shows that substances can be detected not only during the spraying periods in the fields, but also throughout the year and in adjacent meadows. The impact of these chronically detected complex pesticide mixtures on the environment has not been sufficiently investigated and could be significant.

Continue reading

Winter Mingling 2024

Shivang Malik, Tithi Paul, and Krishna Venugopalan Variyer at the Winter Mingling

On the 12th of December 2024, the Winter Mingling took place, as every year, organized by the International Office & Welcome Center at RPTU Campus Landau, to welcome the new international students and celebrate the start of the winter semester. Janna, a student, tells us about it.

Continue reading

Flooding linked with higher contamination in riparian zone

Fiolka - Riparian Zone

In this blog post, Franziska Fiolka and colleagues discuss their study investigating flooding as a vector for organic pesticides, linking aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They assessed regularly and rarely flooded riparian plant contamination profiles in small streams around the Upper Rhine valley and found more and higher concentrations of organic pesticides in regularly flooded riparian soil and plants.

Continue reading

AMEO at the Research Institute and Natural Museum Frankfurt – Hannah Siebert (2024)

Audio trap

Every Summer Semester, Ecotox Master students do a 2-month internship or AMEO (Applied Module at an External Organization). Today, Hannah Siebert tells us about her AMEO experience at the Research Institute and Natural Museum Frankfurt.

Continue reading

Master’s in Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology) 2024 Cohort

The students of the 2024 cohort

Today we welcome the 2024 cohort of the Master’s in Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology) here in Landau. Starting this October, twenty-two students will study how environmental stressors impact ecosystems, and how these risks can be mitigated.

Continue reading