Effects of pesticides on wildlife: The conservation of the Iberian hare in Spanish agrosystems

摘要: The gradual change from a traditional towards an intensive agriculture that has taken place in recent centuries has been translated, among other things, into an important land concentration and the entry of more and more pesticides and chemical fertilizers into the environment. Studies are now linking this agricultural intensification with the loss of plant and animal diversity. In the case of pesticide, although their mode of action is often known in the target species, their secondary or sublethal effects on wildlife are still unknown, particularly at the highest levels of biological organization: populations, communities and/or ecosystems. We face, therefore, the need to causally link knowledge about the molecular actions of pesticide to their possible interference with biological processes, in order to be able to develop reliable predictions about the consequences of the use of pesticides. Among the most consumed pesticides, in Spain, glyphosate, 2, 4‐D and MCPA stand out. Therefore, this project aims to study their effects on wildlife populations that inhabit agricultural environments, to make an assessment of the risk of exposure to pesticides and assess the effect they may have on the wildlife population dynamics. For this, the Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis) has been chosen as a model species because it is i) a species strongly linked to agrosystems, ii) herbivorous, and therefore susceptible to direct exposure of herbicides by ingestion of treated plants, iii) have a high ecological importance to be prey species of great interest for conservation, iv) and a high socio‐economic relevance, being a hunting species. The results of this project will allow us to …