A Master thesis opportunity to assess terrestrial insect exposure to currently used agricultural pesticides is being offered as part of the project PIA (Pesticide exposure of insects in agricultural landscapes) within the Community Ecology & Ecotoxicology research group.
Background
Studies investigating the decline of insects worldwide have identified several major factors that lead to a disruption of insect communities. Loss and fragmentation of habitats, climate change and agricultural intensification all affect the diversity and abundance of insects in various ecosystems. The latter also includes practices such as the application of pesticides. It should be obvious that pesticides targeting processes present not only in the intended target organisms but also in non-target organisms, likewise, disrupt these processes in non-target organisms. These disruptions will ultimately lead to a change in the ecological fitness of insects, resulting in their decline.
PIA is linked to the former project INSECTEXPO, where the exposure of soil and vegetation was studied. To date we have first impressions about insect contamination in protected areas, but surprisingly do not know how exposed insects are in the areas where pesticides are mainly applied – agricultural fields. With 35% of the terrestrial land being crop land, this area is of key importance for the presence of insects themselves and for their role in foodwebs.
Research questions
The project PIA (Pesticide exposure of insects in agricultural landscapes), funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), aims to answer several questions, which include: How high is the contamination of insects in agricultural fields? Is there a difference between typical crops planted in Germany? And is there a difference between currently used management practices?
What we will do
For this, we will sample conventional fields, organic fields and adapted management practices to cover various pesticide application schemes. We will focus on the main crops planted in Germany and collect invertebrates using pitfall traps and sweeping nets. We aim to separate the caught invertebrates based on higher-tier taxonomic units, e.g. ground beetles, spiders or flies.
By linking their exposure to the contamination of soil and vegetation, we gain additional insight into the potential exposure pathways. With these data, we will be able to make quantitative and qualitative statements about the exposure of insects in the agricultural landscape and further evaluate the different management practices based on the exposure of insects.
Interested in this subject and want to be involved?
For the project we are offering the opportunity for you to join us as part of a Master thesis, starting in May 2026. You will collect invertebrates in the field, sort them and perform the analysis of currently used pesticides. If you are interested reach out to me via email: philipp.maeder@rptu.de
Meet the team
I, Philipp Mäder, joined the RPTU for this project recently. I studied soil biology at the University of Hohenheim, where I completed my PhD about the effects of pesticides mixtures on soil microorganisms in the EU-funded project SPRINT. As part of this project, I additionally got insights about the effects of pesticides on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem as well as on human health and regulatory aspects involving pesticides.
Ursel Jäger supports the project with her knowledge and experience in chemical analytics. She will be involved in the sampling campaign, the method validation and the general analytics in the laboratory.