Therefore,
Switzerland: why birds threatened extinction:
ThoseBiodiversity in danger
Why birds are threatened with extinction in Switzerland
The degradation of their habitats. Furthermore, pesticides caused a disappearance of many birds in Switzerland. For example, Two new studies also point to the effect of fungicides.
A study highlights the harmful effects of fungicides on domestic sparrows.
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- Fungicides represent half of the sales of phytosanitary products in Switzerland.
- Forty percent of nesting bird species are threatened with disappearance in Switzerland.
- The sparrows exposed to fungicides have problems of body thermoregulation.
- The mortality of chicks exposed to fungicides reaches 65%.
It is switzerland: why birds threatened extinction not good to be a bird in Switzerland. However, According to Birdlife International. However, more than one in ten species is threatened with disappearance in the world, while the proportion is four times greater on the Swiss scale. Furthermore, “Forty percent of the species that nest in our country are threatened with disappearance. Meanwhile, according to the criteria of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature”, specifies François Turrian, French director of Birdlife Switzerland, pointing to a public policy in deficit in matters of biodiversity. For example, In Geneva, Municipal Council Also asked the city authorities two years ago to do more in favor of biodiversity.
“Urbanization. Moreover, the disappearance of hedges, wasteland, agriculture still far too intensive and the use of fertilizers, insecticides and other phytosanitary products are all factors for this problematic situation,” says the representative of Birdlife. Similarly, “But. switzerland: why birds threatened extinction In addition, ” he points out, when we know that eight out of ten birds feed on insects, insecticides and the loss of floristic biodiversity are two important factors of the disappearance of many birds. Meanwhile, “
“It is the wetlands. Moreover, cultivated environments which have the most species of affected birds,” he continues, while, in the high mountains, the decline of other species adapted to this ecosystem is linked to global warming, “he adds.
On the red list of vulnerable. In addition, threatened species of extinction in Switzerland, there are indeed several whose country habitat has transformed under the constraint of intensive agriculture and the use of phytosanitary products. This is the case of many larks. partridges, which gradually deserted our fields, under the effect of mechanization and herbicidal, insecticide, pesticide and fungicide products.
Switzerland: why birds threatened switzerland: why birds threatened extinction extinction
New studies on the effect of fungicides
“I work on the effect of pesticides on birds in the agricultural area. because the decline of the populations of this environment reaches 60%.” Pauline Bellot. French researcher at the Avitox laboratory of the University of Quebec, in Montreal, conducts research on the factors of disappearance of birds at the Center for Biological Studies in Chizé (CEBC-CNRS).
“The impact of fungicides was little studied and is underestimated. Our work on the domestic sparrow has noted that these products have an effect on thyroid hormones. causing a weakening of the basic metabolism of the sparrows. We observe a lower density of plumage. which poses problems of thermoregulation of the body, for theft and for the sexual selection of individuals. ”
The researcher, switzerland: why birds threatened extinction who did an eight -month internship at the Faculty of Sciences in Geneva, also highlighted reproductive problems. “The female transmits the fungicides triazolés to the egg. which harms the development of chicks, smaller and whose mortality rate is 65% compared to the coat of the control group where this rate is only 7%.”
“In Geneva. where agricultural activities occupy a third of the territory with large crops for half, market gardening and vineyards which represents 13%, there are impacts greater than the average due to fungicides,” notes the French researcher.
However. these phytosanitary products are widely used because they are very effective against a range of fungal diseases and are used on cereal, fruit crops or vineyards.
To fight them, the winegrowers hardly had the choice, especially against the mildew, which had switzerland: why birds threatened extinction wreaked havoc last year. Even if research can make improvements by lowering the amount of inputs to fight against these fungi.
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A team from Biophotonic group of the Physics Department Applied from the University of Geneva. for example, has developed a device allowing to measure in real time the appearance of these diseases and to reduce the fungicides necessary for the same harvest by a third. In addition. on some 150 wine producers in the canton, more and more areas are converted to organic and there are synthetic treatments. They are already thirty in Geneva.
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“Black hats living in vineyards are also strongly contaminated by multiple products containing Azols. Such high contamination of blood has not been observed in the same birds nesting in the forests. parks and gardens of cities, ”concludes this other study From a French team led by Frédéric Angelier, with whom Pauline Bellot worked and who is published on the Sciencedirect site.
Switzerland: why birds threatened extinction
Fungicides represent half of the sales of phytosanitary products in Switzerland
Among fungicides. triazoles are used on crops as varied as cereals, fruit or vine. In switzerland: why birds threatened extinction Switzerland too? Asked. the Federal Office for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs (OSV) confirms that they “appear on the list of products currently authorized for professional use in Switzerland” (this is particularly the case of difénoconazole or the tebuconazole used in viticulture, mainly against powdery mild and black-Rot), some strict condition. Several are considered persistent in soils or among products. Other triazoles, such as hexaconazole, are prohibited for sale and use in Switzerland.
Although fungicide sales fell in Switzerland between 2022. 2023 (last available figures from the Federal Agriculture Office), they represent half of the purchases of phytosanitary products in the country (more than 737 tonnes). A study by the Oxford Academy. Published on its site, confirms their massive use since a prospective study carried out in 2015 on soil samples on the Lake Geneva Arc revealed the existence of a resistance switzerland: why birds threatened extinction to Azols in approximately 10% of all the soils tested.
The fungus Aspergillus fumigatus is responsible for serious pathologies in birds, but also in humans. According to the Pasteur Institute in Paris. in fact, invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is the third cause of invasive fungal infection with a high mortality rate, located between 50 and 80% in France.
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Switzerland: why birds threatened extinction
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