Soil microbial community responses to common pesticides of conventional, IPM and organic farming

Pesticides and practices used in conventional farming are known to negatively affect the environment, including natural attenuation mechanisms and ecosystem functions. Effort is put in raising public awareness and promoting other farming systems like integrated pest management (IPM) and organic farming, that are strictly regulated concerning pesticide use and their environmental impact. Microbial communities inhabiting soils are responsible for important ecosystem functions like nutrient cycling and pathogen control, but are largely neglected in risk assessment studies due to complexities in assessing their response to pesticide application. Our study aims at filling such gaps by analysing the differential responses of soil microbial communities when exposed to commonly used pesticides in conventional farming, IPM and organic farming.