Beyond Environmental Risk Assessment: Mobilising ants for pesticide monitoring.

Abstract

Reliable long-term monitoring of pesticide exposures and concentrations in natural ecosystems is critical to assess their impacts and to adopt effective mitigation strategies. Current Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) frameworks are important regulatory steps, but they do not capture the complexity of pesticide fate in real-world conditions. Robust monitoring systems are therefore necessary but most current programs focus primarily on abiotic compartments (e.g., soils, streams), leaving terrestrial biotic pathways poorly represented. We argue that ants may serve as particularly powerful monitoring tools due to their ubiquity, abundance, sessile long-lived colonies, omnivorous diets across trophic levels, and roles as ecosystem engineers. We outline opportunities, research needs, and values of employing ants in pesticide monitoring.