Big Muddy Speaker Series presents:

Name: The Birds and the Bugs: impacts of neonicotinoid insecticides in Missouri floodplain wetlands
Start: 2019-10-08T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2019-10-08T20:30:00-05:00
Location: The Bistro at Les Bourgeois Vineyards

The Birds and the Bugs: impacts of neonicotinoid insecticides in Missouri floodplain wetlands

Presented by Lisa Webb

A small bird checks out an insect sampling station in a wetland

Neonicotinoids are a class of insecticide widely adopted for agricultural use throughout North America and Europe, in large part because they are selectively more toxic to insects than vertebrates. Neonicotinoids are highly water-soluble and have reported half-lives of greater than 1000 days. The combination of these characteristics in concurrence with their widespread use suggests horizontal movement of neonicotinoids via runoff into surrounding terrestrial habitats, as well as various surface waters such as streams and wetlands.

Due to the widespread use of neonicotinoids in the midwestern United States and the recent concern over the effects on non-target taxa, Lisa Webb and her colleagues have implemented a series of field experiments to quantify neonicotinoid concentrations in Missouri wetlands and associated impacts to aquatic invertebrates and reliant avian species.

She will provide a brief overview on neonicotinoids and then discuss the results of recent studies evaluating the distribution of neonicotinoids in Missouri wetlands and what this means for aquatic invertebrates, wetland food webs and tree swallow nesting efforts.

Meet Your Presenter

Lisa Webb

, biologist

Lisa Webb is the Assistant Unit Leader of the Missouri Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Cooperative Associate Professor in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri - Columbia.

Resources & Links

Dig Deeper for more info on this topic -

Missouri Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Unit - University of Missouri
ARTICLE - "Huge decline in songbirds linked to common insecticide", Sept. 30, 2019 - National Geographic
ARTICLE - "Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides" - August 9, 2019 - National Geographic
ARTICLE - "Second Silent Spring? Bird Declines Linked to Popular Pesticides" - July 9, 2014 - National Geographic

The Big Muddy Speaker Series in Rocheport

is hosted by these wonderful partners.

Missouri River Relief
Les Bourgeois Vineyards
Katy Trail Bed & Breakfast
Missouri River Cultural Conservancy (MoRivCC)

Click here for a list of upcoming presentations»

Special thanks to Les Bourgeois Vineyards for giving us the opportunity to use their beautiful space overlooking the Missouri River. All speakers are presenting for free! Thank you all for sharing your knowledge with us!

And a special tip of the hat to volunteer David Owens who has been doing the sound for the Speaker Series for several years.

Our thanks to Dave and the good people of MoRivCC who are video recording these presentations when possible.

The Big Muddy Speaker Series also takes place monthly in Kansas City and St. Charles.

The views and opinions expressed by our presenters do not necessarily reflect the view or policies of Missouri River Relief, the Big Muddy Speaker Series or any of the partners that support this public forum. The Big Muddy Speaker Series believes that hearing diverse perspectives is a crucial building block for an informed public.