Neonicotinoids disrupt aquatic food webs and decrease fishery yields science.sciencemag.org

Cascading effects of pesticide useIt is now well known that neonicotinoids negatively affect pollinators.
As research has expanded, it has become clear that these globally used insecticides directly affect other ecosystem components, including vertebrates.
now show that these compounds are indirectly affecting species through trophic cascades (see the Perspective by Jensen).
Since the application of neonicotinoids to agricultural fields began in the 1990s, zooplankton biomass has plummeted in a Japanese lake surrounded by these fields.
This decline has led to shifts in food web structure and a collapse of two commercially harvested freshwater fish species.