NEC06550 Does the discharge of chemicals to the environment harm wildlife populations?

Lead Research Organisation: UK CENTRE FOR ECOLOGY & HYDROLOGY
Department Name: Pollution (Wallingford)

Abstract

Traditional chemical risk assessment relies on undertaking laboratory ecotoxicity studies, but can only assume what the population or ecosystem functioning consequences might be. We aim to move beyond these current limitations by interrogating wildlife population data (terrestrial, freshwater and marine) in the context of chemical exposure in a way that will progress the field.

Our high-level aim is to identify which populations and environments are doing well under the current chemical regime and which are not. This will allow the UK to focus its research where the greatest wildlife declines are occurring and bring clarity to the issue of chemical risk in the environment that continues to cause great uncertainty.

Only a few studies have exploited Britain's long-term wildlife population data with regards to the influence of chemical exposure. Chemical exposures we will examine will include pesticides in the terrestrial and freshwater environments, the chemical mixture in sewage effluent, metals and persistent organic pollutants. We will be looking at macroinvertebrates and fishes in our rivers, invertebrates and sparrowhawks on land and cetaceans (dolphins and killer whales) off our coasts. These environments and species represent current concerns across the natural environment for both diffuse and point source pollution. We will focus on species and taxa that are either core providers of ES or represent aspects of native biodiversity identified by the public as important to societal wellbeing. There are many stressors and compensating factors other than chemicals that can influence wildlife populations. We will incorporate such factors into our analyses to assess their role and significance and thus also address the research question: How important are chemical stressors in relation to other pressures in the environment? By comparing long-term and spatially explicit trends in natural populations, with the response predicted by classical ecotoxicity as reported in the literature, we will evaluate whether such tests are indicative of impacts in the wild. This is essential to assess to what extent traditional risk assessments, typical of those used in the Water Framework and similar Directives, are predictive of outcomes for wildlife populations in terrestrial, freshwater or marine environments.

Planned Impact

Through the examination of population monitoring data, we will inform the regulatory approach to chemicals by evaluating whether the current approach protects wildlife populations and their ecosystem services (ES). Our aim is to identify which populations and environments are doing well under the current chemical regime and which are not. This is tied closely with our regulatory and operational stakeholders' aims. Thus, evaluating the population response to chemical exposure will provide vital information for a wide range of stakeholders and they will be able to focus on chemicals and environments where the greatest declines in native wildlife are occurring. The pathways for engaging and promoting these impacts are detailed in the Pathways to Impact section.

Regulators and Government such as the EA and Defra welcome this proposal. Our research will complement laboratory studies on the impact of a chemical on an organism and provide knowledge on the true impact on wildlife populations over time in the real environment, something that cannot be replicated in the laboratory. The EA are keen to know if there are population impacts occurring despite regulation and we are responding to the Defra Group ARI. We will meet their needs to 'a more effective use of observations to better understand risk' and 'to provide a better understanding of how chemical pollution may be changing the environment'.

The Chemicals Industry including pharmaceuticals, personal care and agrochemicals, are aware that a proportion of their products enter the environment following sewage treatment or agricultural application. Our industry partners (Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, Pfizer, Roche) are all giving strong support to this proposal. They believe this project will greatly help their industry by opening a new line of evidence on the true impact of their chemicals on wildlife. It will give greater confidence and allow decisions to be based on evidence rather than assumptions. This research will improve regulator-industry relationships by giving regulators greater certainty regarding where to show caution and put further controls on products and where the burden of an overly cautious approach may be reduced.

The Water Industry have argued that the risks from chemicals, particularly pharmaceuticals, which escape in wastewater are not well understood We will determine the impact of chemicals released in wastewater both on macroinvertebrates and fish populations over recent decades. If no population consequences are occurring in waters receiving wastewater then we can argue that such costly expenditure and additional energy requirement is unnecessary; the current UK bill for stringent tertiary treatment is an estimated £30 billion. We have close support from Thames Water for our freshwater work.

The Recreation Industry such as Angling, are important stakeholders. They can place considerable pressure on politicians and industry when ill-informed speculation on chemical impacts takes off. Our NGO contacts have expressed great interest in the outcome of our proposal. We will help this sector to better understand chemical pressure and where to focus conservation efforts to mitigate it. Environmental NGOs will recognise the value of our work on assessing population-level impacts of chemicals to address their concerns.

Wider Dissemination and Building Capacity
Incorporating population studies routinely in the way we examine the impact of chemicals, or indeed other human activities, will be a paradigm shift. As well as through publications, we will influence other stakeholders by hosting a web-based training resource to reveal our sources and approach. Showing how publically available monitoring data can be used will democratise the access to science and the power it can provide. It will help grow a new generation of scientists using this approach.

Publications

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Johnson A (2019) The necessity for wildlife population studies to assess real chemical impacts in Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health

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Johnson A (2019) Is freshwater macroinvertebrate biodiversity being harmed by synthetic chemicals in municipal wastewater? in Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health

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Johnson AC (2021) The Future of the Weight-of-Evidence Approach: A Response to Suter's Comments. in Environmental toxicology and chemistry

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Mancini F (2019) Agrochemicals in the wild: Identifying links between pesticide use and declines of nontarget organisms in Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health

 
Description Whilst the project is still ongoing, some strong messages appear to be emerging. Firstly, the across the board improvement in freshwater invertebrate richness starting from the 1990s. The latest information is that fish species richness also improved from 1989 to 2018 at the national scale. We are reviewing why this happened using statistical modelling. Secondly, the observation of broad decline in terrestrial invertebrate diversity and abundance across all landscapes over the same time period but most notably with arable landscapes. The general decline may relate to climate change. Chemicals may play a role in the higher terrestrial invertebrate decline in the arable landscape and this will be investigated further, but general farming intensification is likely to have been important. Sparrowhawks show increasing rodenticide contamination but this differs with region. The assumed toxic stress may be a factor in a British population decline. On the marine side, an increase in deceased common dolphins suffering from disease associated with PCB contamination.
Exploitation Route Interrogating long-term biological monitoring is the key to revealing how the environment is responding to man's activities. This is far more revealing than focusing on endless chemical tests in the laboratory. It appears to show that concerted action can succeed in freshwaters in protecting biodiversity. But it also reveals we are failing in our terrestrial environment stewardship. The emphasis of the media and regulation should be brought to bear on improving the management our terrestrial landscape.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Chemicals

Environment

Government

Democracy and Justice

Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology

 
Description The freshwater results have caught the attention of the Environment Agency. They and Defra are offering additional funding to research some of the invertebrate findings in greater detail. Defra have asked the PI to visit their HQ on 9th March 2023 to discuss how the results could influence their biodiversity and chemicals teams. This may be timely as a review of the 25YEP results are being made and a consideration of whether the WFD (2017) is still fit for purpose in the UK.
First Year Of Impact 2023
Sector Chemicals,Environment
Impact Types Policy & public services

 
Description Giving oral evidence to Environmental audit Committee of Parliament
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Additional analysis of river invertebrate trends from NERC ChemPop project
Amount £40,000 (GBP)
Funding ID 30120 (RDE070) 
Organisation Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2023 
End 12/2023
 
Description Assessing responses to chemical exposure in invertebrate and fish populations and biodiversity across diverse UK aquatic environments
Amount £105,000 (GBP)
Funding ID 2573777 
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2021 
End 07/2025
 
Description ecorisc
Amount £1,607,357 (GBP)
Funding ID 2695666 
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2022 
End 07/2026
 
Title Annual estimates of occupancy for six invertebrate taxa in areas of high, low and no cropland cover in Great Britain, 1990-2019 
Description The dataset contains occupancy estimates for 1,535 species of six invertebrate taxa (Apoidea - bees, Syrphidae - hoverflies, Coccinellidae - ladybirds, Arachnida - spiders, Carabidae - carabids and Heteroptera - plant bugs) in regions of high, low and no cropland cover in Great Britain between 1990 and 2019. Occupancy is the proportion of 1km grid cells occupied by a species, as estimated by an occupancy-detection model. The dataset includes 999 samples from the model's posterior distribution per species:year combination and for each of three regions of high, low and no cropland cover. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/28538610-0936-48b8-b167-ee6ee8fdc491
 
Description NFU arrival on our external advisory board 
Organisation National Farmers Union
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution NFU came onboard as they were keen to assess and advise on the way we are identifying risks from pesticides
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at all our PMG meetings
Impact none
Start Year 2019
 
Description Syngenta and our PMG 
Organisation Syngenta International AG
Department Syngenta Ltd (Bracknell)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Request to be involved in our external advisory board
Collaborator Contribution They have provided useful information on current and future pesticide use and trends
Impact Helpful information provided for our Science paper
Start Year 2019
 
Description Unilever arrival on our external advisory board 
Organisation Unilever
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Discussions are ongoing into how our new knowledge could inform Unilever product risk assessment
Collaborator Contribution Involvement at all our project management group meetings
Impact Helpful information provided that was used in our Science paper
Start Year 2019
 
Description British Toxicological Society Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Outlined impacts of chemicals on biodiversity and how this has lessened over time.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Cafe Scientifique Oxford 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Cafe Scientifique is an opportunity for the general public to hear about science at an evening event. In my talk about fish, oestrogens and water quality I explained our new approaches to assess chemical impacts on wildlife
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Cornwall's Beekeeping Convention, Turo 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Beekeeping convention talk covering a range of wild bee related topics, sustainable intensification and impacts of pesticides. Opportunity to explain the approach used in our project
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Defra organised meeting to discuss UK chemical strategy 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Opportunity to explain the latest approaches as used by our project in assessing the impacts of chemicals on the environment, particularly valuable in underlining the need for the UK to maintain its monitoring network!
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description GW4 (SW England research & collaboration partnership) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Outlining potential of wildlife monitoring to assess chemical impacts
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Interview BBC R4 Woman's hour 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Woman's Hour - Participating in discussion on pesticides and bees
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Interview with BBC R4 Farming Today 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Interview with BBC R4 Farming Today broadcast on 21st January on topic of water pollution and the role of the Farming Industry. In the interview it was explained that biodiversity was an important metric, and that rivers were doing well despite uncertainties
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013hkp
 
Description Interview with BBC World Service Crowd Science 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interview with BBC World Service Crowd Science programme on what is in our wastewater and is it harming wildlife or humans
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://podtail.com/podcast/crowdscience/what-can-we-learn-from-wastewater/
 
Description LEAF - Linking Farming and Environement 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Outreach on informing practitioners about impact of farming practice on biodiversity
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Meeting organised by Sainsburys on water quality 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact I was one of 3 academics who discussed different aspects of water quality to Sainsburys senior staff and their suppliers. It allowed me to explain the approach used in my current project to assess chemical impacts
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Meeting with Japanese scientists in the UK/J Defra organised working group 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Opportunity to explain the latest approaches as used by our project in assessing the impacts of chemicals on the environment
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Meeting with senior staff of Thames Water 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Opportunity to explain the latest approaches as used by our project in assessing the impacts of chemicals on the environment. Thames Water managers endorsed our approach.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description National newspaper uptake Daily Mail family and Independent Newspaper 4th October 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Broad reach of our freshwater work package to a national and international audience
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/invertebrates-andrew-johnson-europe-british-enviro...
 
Description National newspaper uptake Daily Telegraph Newspaper 30th October 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interviewed by Newspaper following publication of our macroinvertebrate paper and press release
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2023/10/29/river-species-england-thriving-despite-sewage-sca...
 
Description Poster on project presented at SETAC Helsinki meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Opportunity to show our research approaches as used by our project in assessing the impacts of chemicals on the environment to a very wide audiance
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Presentation given to the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact A presentation given to the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use,. This was a description of the CHEMPOP project aims and progress, and specifically the work package on rodenticides. This information was disseminated through a presentation to a key stakeholder group, the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use. This is an industry led- consortium of rodenticide manufacturers, distributors and users (pest control companies, representatives of other professional user groups such as farmers) who have a keen interest in understanding the environmental impact of their products
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description SETAC 2020 International meeting on chemicals in the environment 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Reviewed improvements in macroinvertebrates. Evidence of macroinvertebrate recovery linked to water quality. Caused some surprise!
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Talk at learned society meeting, British Ecological Society 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invertebrate biodiversity continues to decline in cropland talk to ecologists by Francesca Mancini
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Talk to CSIC in Spain, which is an institute concerned with water quality 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Opportunity to discuss the latest approaches to study chemicals in the environment in the UK, so could explain the methods in this project
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Talk to Chinese scientists from CRAES Institute in Beijing 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Opportunity to explain the latest approaches as used by our project in assessing the impacts of chemicals on the environment. Valuable exercise as the Chinese review and develop our own approaches.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Talk to Luxembourg Research Institute (LIST) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Opportunity to explain the latest approaches as used by our project in assessing the impacts of chemicals on the environment
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Talk to practitioners on responsible rodenticide use 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Lee Walker gave a talk to the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use Task Force meeting on 24th November 2021. Audience: representative the rodenticide industries. Part of the talk discussed latest work on rodenticides in ChemPop.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description The Crop it Like it's Hot Podcast 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Podcast to arable farming industry. Overview of sustainable management and its links with pollination and pesticides
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.croptecshow.com/podcasts/