Use of synthetic pesticides causes some unfortunate consequences such as environmental pollution, pests/ vector resistance and toxicity to other non-target organisms including human beings, biological pesticides from plant, microbial origin are environmentally safe pesticides. Microbial insecticides are especially valuable because their non-toxicity to non-target animals and human beings. Labor...

Lentic freshwater systems including those inhabited by aquatic stages of mosquitoes derive most of their carbon inputs from terrestrial organic matter mainly leaf litter. The leaf litter is colonized by microbial communities that provide the resource base for mosquito larvae. While the microbial biomass associated with different leaf species in container aquatic habitats is well documented, the...

Schnürer, Y., 2006. Influence of soil properties and organic pesticides on soil microbial metabolism. Doctor’s dissertation. ISSN 1652-6880, ISBN 91-576-7267-9. In many areas of the world undesirable dispersal of organic pesticides into untargeted environments has occurred, and is continuing, raising serious concerns about their potential impact on the environment and human health. The main age...

Widenfalk, A. 2005. Interactions between pesticides and microorganisms in freshwater sediments – Toxic effects and implications for bioavailability. Doctoral dissertation. ISSN 1652-6880, ISBN 91-576-7022-6. In aquatic ecosystems sediment microbial communities provide many important functions, such as organic matter decomposition and by constituting a major food source for organisms at higher t...

In India, the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), is an important pest of cruciferous vegetables and causes severe economic losses. This pest has ability to evolve resistance in laboratory and field to almost all groups of synthetic insecticides. Despite of these, management with synthetic insecticides has been considered to be the easy and favorable option by...

Container aquatic habitats support a specialized community of macroinvertebrates (e.g. mosquitoes) that feed on microbial communities associated with decaying organic matter. These aquatic habitats are often embedded within and around agricultural lands and are frequently exposed to pesticides. We used a microcosm approach to examine the single and combined effects of two herbicides (atrazine, ...

Previously, laboratory experiments have revealed that freely diluted azole fungicides potentiate the direct toxic effect of pyrethroid insecticides on Daphnia magna. More ecologically relevant exposure scenarios where pesticides are adsorbed have not been addressed. In this study we exposed beech leaves (Fagus sylvatica) to the azole fungicide propiconazole (50 or 500 μg L(-1)), the pyrethroid ...