Editing Herbicide (section)

===Ecological effects===
Herbicide use generally has negative impacts on many aspects of the environment. Insects, non-targeted plants, animals, and aquatic systems subject to serious damage from herbicides. Impacts are highly variable.

[[Bioaccumulation]] is a concern, both in terrestrial<ref>{{Citation |last=Hollander |first=Anne |title=Fate and Transport of Contaminants |date=2011-08-27 |work=Ecological Impacts of Toxic Chemicals |pages=13–42 |editor-last=Mansuripur |editor-first=Francisco |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/75863/1/9781608051212.pdf#page=19 |access-date=2025-04-09 |publisher=Bentham Science Publishers |doi=10.2174/978160805121210013 |isbn=978-1-60805-121-2 |last2=Peijnenburg |first2=Willie |last3=Breure |first3=Ton}}</ref> and aquatic environments,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Vijayanand |first=Madhumitha |last2=Issac |first2=Praveen Kumar |last3=Velayutham |first3=Manikandan |last4=Deepak |first4=Paramasivam |last5=Thiyagarajulu |first5=Nathiya |last6=Alam |first6=Mir Waqas |last7=Guru |first7=Ajay |date=2025 |title=A sustainable solution: mitigating aquatic herbicide contamination through natural product interventions |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10499-025-01823-1 |journal=Aquaculture International |language=en |volume=33 |issue=2 |doi=10.1007/s10499-025-01823-1 |issn=0967-6120}}</ref> and is heavily dependent on both the kind of herbicide and the conditions. For example, fish in dark aquariums bioaccumulated 14 times more [[trifluralin]] than fish kept in well lit aquariums in a 1977 study.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kearney |first1=P.C. |last2=Isensee |first2=A.R. |last3=Kontson |first3=A. |title=Distribution and degradation of dinitroaniline herbicides in an aquatic ecosystem |journal=Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology |date=June 1977 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=242–248 |doi=10.1016/0048-3575(77)90015-3}}</ref>

====Aquatic life====
[[Atrazine]] and [[2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid|2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid]] have often been blamed for affecting reproductive behavior of aquatic life. A review in 2008 found that the data do not support this assertion in regards to atrazine,<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/10408440802116496 |title=Effects of Atrazine on Fish, Amphibians, and Aquatic Reptiles: A Critical Review |date=2008 |last1=Solomon |first1=Keith R. |last2=Carr |first2=James A. |last3=Du Preez |first3=Louis H. |last4=Giesy |first4=John P. |last5=Kendall |first5=Ronald J. |last6=Smith |first6=Ernest E. |last7=Van Der Kraak |first7=Glen J. |journal=Critical Reviews in Toxicology |volume=38 |issue=9 |pages=721–772 |pmid=18941967 |s2cid=85648794 }}</ref> but later works find these herbicides as having a detrimental effect on aquatic plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate life, as well as disrupting [[microbial communities]] in soil.<ref name=":1" />

====Bird populations====
Bird populations are one of many indicators of herbicide damage. Most observed effects are due not to toxicity,<ref>Laboratory studies have at times overestimated negative impacts on birds due to toxicity, predicting serious problems that were not observed in the field.{{cite journal | doi = 10.1890/1051-0761(1997)007[1125:FSOPAB]2.0.CO;2 | year = 1997 | volume = 7 | pages = 1125–1132 | title = Field Studies on Pesticides and Birds: Unexpected and Unique Relations | last1 = Blus | first1 = Lawrence J. | last2 = Henny | first2 = Charles J. | journal = Ecological Applications | issue = 4}}</ref> but to habitat changes and the decreases in abundance of species on which birds rely for food or shelter. Herbicide use in [[silviculture]], used to favor certain types of growth following [[clearcutting]], can cause significant drops in bird populations. Even when herbicides which have low toxicity to birds are used, they decrease the abundance of many types of vegetation on which the birds rely.<ref name="MacKinnon-Freedman-1993">{{cite journal |author1=MacKinnon, D. S. |author2=Freedman, B. | title = Effects of Silvicultural Use of the Herbicide Glyphosate on Breeding Birds of Regenerating Clearcuts in Nova Scotia, Canada | journal = Journal of Applied Ecology | volume = 30 | issue = 3 | year = 1993 | pages = 395–406 | jstor = 2404181 | doi = 10.2307/2404181|bibcode=1993JApEc..30..395M }}</ref> Herbicide use in agriculture in the UK has been linked to a decline in seed-eating bird species which rely on the weeds killed by the herbicides.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1111/j.1474-919X.2004.00375.x | title = The recent declines of farmland bird populations in Britain: An appraisal of causal factors and conservation actions | year = 2004 | last1 = Newton | first1 = Ian | journal = Ibis | volume = 146 | issue = 4 | pages = 579–600}}</ref> Heavy use of herbicides in [[neotropical]] agricultural areas has been one of many factors implicated in limiting the usefulness of such agricultural land for wintering migratory birds.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Comparison of neotropical migrant landbird populations wintering in tropical forest, isolated forest fragments, and agricultural habitats |year= 1992 |author1=Robbins, C.S. |author2=Dowell, B.A. |author3=Dawson, D.K. |author4=Colon, J.A. |author5=Estrada, R. |author6=Sutton, A. |author7=Sutton, R. |author8=Weyer, D. |title=Ecology and Conservation of Neotropical Migrant Landbirds |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London |pages=207–220 |isbn=978-1560981138 |editor1=Hagan, John M. |editor2=Johnston, David W. }}</ref>