By Roy van Grunsven – Dutch Butterfly Conservation
Today there is a meeting by the European Food Safety Authority where among other things they will decide whether the use of the insecticide thiacloprid is allowed. This is a neonicotionoïd that is very similar to the compounds banned because they are detrimental to bees.
A recent study found this compound to be 2500 times as toxic for water fleas under natural conditions than in the lab where they are kept under ideal conditions: https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.4142. Our citizen scientists will be studying the role these compounds play in the decline of insects, and in particular dragonflies, within ACTION.