Spider orb web as bioassay for pesticide side effects

Pesticides may affect the predatory and reproductive behaviour of beneficial arthropods short of having direct effects on their survival. We present a bioassay designed to test (ultimately in the field) such hidden effects of agrochemicals in their application concentrations. As a paradigm we chose the web‐building behaviour of the cross spider Araneus diadematus Clerck (Araneidea, Argiopidae) and we selected four commonly used pesticides: Oleo Rustica 11E (mild insecticide), Fastac (pyrethroid insecticide), Bayfidan and Sportak (fungicides). Neither fungicides nor the mild insecticide seem to affect web‐building behaviour significantly, whereas the pyrethroid insecticide suppressed web‐building frequency and severely affected web size and building accuracy.

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