Insecticides that are sprayed in orchards and fields across North America may be more toxic to spiders than scientists previously believed.
For a new study, researchers looked at changes in the behavior of individual bronze jumping spiders both before and after exposure to Phosmet, a widely used broad-spectrum insecticide.
“Bronze jumping spiders play an important role in orchards and fields, especially at the beginning of the agricultural season, by eating many of the pests like the oblique-banded leafroller, a moth that attacks young plants and fruit,” says Raphaël Royauté, a former McGill University Ph.D. student whose study on the subject appears in Functional Ecology.
