Question

How pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are effecting the ecosystems?

Answer 1

Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides have various impacts on ecosystem such as:

• The excessive use of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides cause soil pollution and water pollution.
• They make the soil infertile.
• As they become a part of the soil, they are taken up by the plants. Due to this, the toxic substances get incorporated into the food chain.
• The run-off from the fields leads to their entry in the water bodies which not only affects aquatic biota but also has serious health hazards on the humans. For example, excess nitrogen in the water causes the blue baby syndrome in children.
• The chemicals and toxic substances once enter the food chain, get accumulated in the body of organisms and their concentration increases with each successive trophic level. This is called biomagnification. For example, DDT gets accumulated in the body of fishes as it enters water bodies due to runoff from the fields.