An update of the Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) on systemic insecticides. Part 2: impacts on organisms and ecosystems

New information on the lethal and sublethal effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on organisms is presented in this review, complementing the previous WIA in 2015. The high toxicity of these systemic insecticides to invertebrates has been confirmed and expanded to include more species and compounds. Most of the recent research has focused on bees and the sublethal and ecological impacts these insecticides have on pollinators. Toxic effects on other invertebrate taxa also covered predatory and parasitoid natural enemies and aquatic arthropods. Little, while not much new information has been gathered on soil organisms. The impact on marine coastal ecosystems is still largely uncharted. The chronic lethality of neonicotinoids to insects and crustaceans, and the strengthened evidence that these chemicals also impair the immune system and reproduction, highlights the dangers of this particular insecticidal classneonicotinoids and fipronil. , withContinued large scale – mostly prophylactic – use of these persistent organochlorine pesticides has the potential to greatly decreasecompletely eliminate populations of arthropods in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Sublethal effects on fish, reptiles, frogs, birds and mammals are also reported, showing a better understanding of the mechanisms of toxicity of these insecticides in vertebrates, and their deleterious impacts on growth, reproduction and neurobehaviour of most of the species tested. This review concludes with a summary of impacts on the ecosystem services and functioning, particularly on pollination, soil biota and aquatic invertebrate communities, thus reinforcing the previous WIA conclusions (van der Sluijs et al. 2015)

Drop Chapter 24: Cold-water corals in fluid venting submarine structures

A relationship between scleractinian cold-water corals and fluid venting submarine structures has been observed in Mediterranean and adjacent areas. Mud volcanoes and mud diapirs promote different substrate types for biological colonisation: from muddy bottoms with chemosynthesis-based communities and typical bathyal soft bottom fauna to hard bottoms with sessile solitary and colonial scleractinian cold-water corals, sponges, octocorals and antipatharians. Fluid venting submarine structures provide an elevated position for the development of sessile suspension feeders, including scleractinian cold-water corals, where an interaction of the currents with the local topography generally accelerates the water flow. This facilitates the supply of suspended food particles and the development of carbonate mounds mainly built by scleractinian cold-water corals. Methane-derived authigenic carbonates provide hard substrates, which represent a prerequisite for larvae settlement of some scleractinian cold-water corals and further development of polyps and colonies in those elevated areas. These factors make FVSS an appropriate place for the development of habitats conformed by scleractinian cold-water corals as well as genuine and singular biodiversity hotspots.This work has been developed as part of the LIFE+ INDEMARES/CHICA (LIFE07/NAT/E/000732) and SUBVENT (CGL2012-39524-C02-01) projects.Peer reviewe