Impact of Legally Compliant Organic Pesticides on Natural Enemies (original) (raw)

Twenty-nine studies were reviewed that examined the impacts of four commercially produced insect pathogens, spinosad ® , and neem/azadirachtin on 49 natural enemy species among 23 arthropod families (including insects, mites, and spiders). Results indicated that many toxins used in legally compliant organic pesticides have the ability to either kill or debilitate (via sublethal effects) many parasitoids and predators commonly found in agriculture. These results are mainly based on laboratory experiments with few studies conducted in the field. Greater than 20% mortality was caused to most species (42 of 49 [86%]) by the compounds/pathogens examined. Hippodamia convergens and Podisus maculiventris were the only species tested in all three toxin categories without > 20% mortality, but the latter species did exhibit sublethal effects following neem / azadirachtin exposure.