Effects of benzimidazole and triazole fungicide use on epigeic species of collembola in wheat

Foliar sprays of the systemic fungicides carbendazim, propiconazole, and tr iadimenol mere applied in summer to replicated barrier-enclosed and open pl ots in a field of winter wheat in southern England at dose rates equivalent to label recommendations. Surface-active Collembola (springtails) were sam pled from the experimental plots by suction sampling and pitfall trapping b efore and after the fungicide applications. No consistent effects of the fu ngicides on collembolan activity were detected using pitfall trapping but s uction sampling revealed a transient negative effect of propiconazole and t riadimenol on the overall abundance of higher collembolan taxa. Among indiv idual species, however, fungicide effects varied spatially. Fewer significa nt treatment effects mere obtained in enclosed than in open plots and no co nsistent effects of carbendazim were detected. The relevance of these findi ngs to current fungicide usage strategies in British arable crops, which in clude the use of complex tank mixes, is discussed. (C) 2000 Academic Press.