Pesticide applications in agriculture and their effects on birds: An overview

Abstract

Avifauna is one of the successful diverse and evolutionary groups and occurs in the tropics in large numbers as compared to temperate zone. Fluctuation in the diversity of birds provides early warning of environmental problems. The threats to their community structure due to various reasons. Agricultural pesticides have been shown to affect 87 percent of the bird species that are threatened globally. Over the past four decades, many farmland avian species have shown alarming declines in numbers and/or range. Approximately five million plenty of pesticides are used annually in the world, of which about seventieth is used for agriculture causing decline in avian population in the agro-agriculture ecosystem. In this review an attempt has been made to focus on the effects of pesticide applications on birds. The possible health effects of pesticide applications on avifauna has been discussed as well.