There is currently a lack of ecotoxicity tests adapted to earthworm species of higher ecological relevance and whose endpoints could be directly related to their ecological role in the soil. We propose a new and relatively simple ecotoxicity test based on the estimation of cast production (CP) by Lumbricus terrestris under laboratory conditions. CP was found to be linearly correlated to earthworm biomass and to be greatly influenced by soil water content. Azinphos-methyl had no effect on CP at all the concentrations tested. Significant decreases were observed at the normal application rate for other pesticides with (imidacloprid, carbaryl, methomyl) or without (ethyl-parathion and chlorpyrifos-ethyl) a clear concentration–effect response. For the highest concentration tested, reduction in CP varied between 35 and 67%. CP is straightforward and rapidly measured and ecologically meaningful. We thus believe it to be of great use as an endpoint in ecotoxicity testing.

The introduction of glyphosate-tolerant (GT) crops is expected to mitigate the environmental contamination by herbicides because glyphosate is less persistent and toxic than the herbicides used on non-GT crops. Here, we compared the environmental balances of herbicide applications for both crop types in three French field trials. The dynamic of herbicides and their metabolites in soil, groundwater and air was simulated with PRZM model and compared to field measurements. The associated impacts were aggregated with toxicity potentials calculated with the fate and exposure model USES for several environmental endpoints. The impacts of GT systems were lower than those of non-GT systems, but the accumulation in soils of one glyphosate metabolite (aminomethylphosphonic acid) questions the sustainability of GT systems. The magnitude of the impacts depends on the rates and frequency of glyphosate application being highest for GT maize monoculture and lowest for combination of GT oilseed rape and non-GT sugarbeet crops. The impacts of herbicide applications on glyphosate-tolerant crops could be higher than expected due to the accumulation of a metabolite of glyphosate in soils.

We present here the effects of ambient ozone (O3)-induced decline in carbon availability, accelerated foliar senescence, and a decrease in aboveground biomass accumulation in the Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.). Aleppo pine seedlings were continuously exposed in open-top chambers for 39 months to three different types of O3 treatments, which are as follows: charcoal-filtered air, nonfiltered air (NFA), and nonfiltered air supplemented with 40 ppb O3 (NFA+). Stable carbon isotope discrimination (Δ) and derived time-integrated ci/ca ratios were reduced after an accumulated ozone exposure over a threshold of 40 ppb (AOT40) value from April to September of around 20,000 ppb·h. An AOT40 of above 67,000 ppb·h induced reductions in ribulose-1, 5-biphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase activity, aboveground C and needle N and K concentrations, the C/N ratio, Ca concentrations in twigs under 3 mm, and the aerial biomass, as well as increases in needle P concentrations and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activity and the N and K concentrations in twigs under 3 mm. Macronutrients losses, the limitations placed on carbon uptake, and increases in catabolic processes may be the causes of carbon gain diminution in leaves which was reflected as a reduction in aboveground biomass at tree level. Stimulation of PEPC activity, the consequent decreased Δ, and compensation processes in nutrient distribution may increase O3 tolerance and might be interpreted as part of Aleppo pine acclimation response to O3.

Soil carries out functions that are crucial for theenvironment and life on earth and is therefore an essential non renewableresource for mankind. Recently, the European Soil Framework Directive proposalindicated that soil is under increasing environmental pressure mostly due tothe intensification of human activities, which are damaging the capacity ofsoil to continue to perform in full its broad variety of crucial functions.Most of these soil functions are depending on micro-organisms inhabiting the soil.The diversity of soil micro-organisms is the highest on earth with estimates ofseveral thousand to several million different genomes per gram of soil. Howeverfundamental knowledge of the diversity and ecology of microbial communitiescarrying out soil functions is still limited. Understanding the impact ofanthropogenic activities on microbial communities and how this relates to soilfunctioning is therefore a major challenge in soil microbiology. The revolutionin the techniques available to date offer exciting opportunities for a betterunderstanding of the relationships between microbial diversity and soilfunctions. This talk will focus on the novel insights into the impact of humanactivities on microbial communities and potential consequences for ecosystemprocesses.