Pesticide side-effects on arthropod natural enemies: A database summary

The literature on pesticide side-effects on arthropod natural enemies has greatly expanded since the 1950s. A database (SELCTV) of this literature has been developed for characterization, analysis and use in decision-making for pest control and environmental impact assessment. Currently, the database holds some 12 600 records containing pesticide side-effects information for over 600 species of natural enemies and 400 agricultural chemicals. Each database record is composed of 40 fields. A record includes information on the natural enemy species tested, the chemical pesticide and its attributes, the conditions of pesticide exposure and associated natural enemy response, and the literature source of the information. In addition to characterizing the literature, all pesticide/natural enemy response data were translated to a scale ranging from 1 (0% effect) to 5 (90–100% effect). Lethal and sublethal effects are presented for many species, pesticide and test method data groupings. Some general trends from the database are that predators are less susceptible and more variable in response to pesticides than parasitoids. Some species very tolerant to pesticides are the spider, Lycosa pseudoannulata, the coccinellid, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, and the chrysopid, Chrysopa carnea. Insecticides are the most toxic pesticide class to predators and parasitoids, followed by herbicides, acaricides and fungicides, respectively. Among insecticide classes, a trend of increasing toxicity to natural enemies is present from the early inorganics to the synthetic pyrethroids. More recent microbials and insect growth regulators seem less toxic and more selective. Differences in the susceptibility trends among pests, predators and parasitoids are discussed.