Abstract

Agricultural pesticides can become persistent environmental pollutants. Among many, glyphosate (GLP) is under particular scrutiny because of its extensive use and its alleged threats to the ecosystem and human health. Here, we introduce the first global environmental contamination analysis of GLP and its metabolite, AMPA, conducted with a mechanistic dynamic model at 0.5 x 0.5 degrees spatial resolution (about 55 km at the equator) fed with geographically-distributed agricultural quantities, soil and biogeochemical properties, and hydroclimatic variables. Our analyses reveal that about 1% of croplands worldwide (385,000 km(2)) are susceptible to mid to high contamination hazard and less than 0.1% has a high hazard. Hotspots found in South America, Europe, and East and South Asia were mostly correlated to widespread GLP use in pastures, soybean, and corn; diffuse contributing processes were mainly biodegradation recalcitrance and persistence, while soil residue accumulation and leaching below the root zone contributed locally to the hazard in hotspots. Hydroclimatic and soil variables were major controlling factors of contamination hotspots. The relatively low risk of environmental exposure highlighted in our work for a single active substance does not rule out a greater recognition of environmental pollution by pesticides and calls for worldwide cooperation to develop timely standards and implement regulated strategies to prevent excess global environmental pollution. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Hazard analysis; Glyphosate; AMPA; Global scales; Environmental modelling

Published in

Science of the Total Environment
2020, Volume: 717, article number: 137167
Publisher: ELSEVIER

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137167

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/111715