In the United States, national-level FIFRA pesticide risk assessments and consultations, by their nature, cannot embrace all details of an action because it is impossible to retrieve all relevant and reliable data and understand the impact of all points of engagement at any point in time. However, there may be a way to reach or leverage local data and practices as well as engage local entities that are already involved in the implementation of the label that dictates the terms of use and is further affected when a local activity (pesticide application to a use site) is undertaken. Agricultural operations are complex systems and the national consultation process may be able to employ components of that system to build data, develop and implement conservation initiatives, or improve education and communication. To illustrate the complexity of the system, and what each element of the system might contribute to the overall process, a complex interpretational diagram is needed.  Borrowing from phylogenetics, a haplotype network will be presented to describe the national registration of a pesticide and its label, and the additional information that is in play when that label legally applies to an application made by a pesticide user at a specific location, on a specific crop, for control of a specific organism. The haplotype network is useful in illustrating what, in genetics, is the phylogeny (evolutionary path) of an individual species, which here is translated to what, in American agriculture, is the “ontogeny” (the final expression) of an individual pesticide application. Connections between elements and their flow from national level to the point of application is critically important to the overall understanding of pesticide use and potential species exposure that is controlled by the complex American agricultural system. Only a fraction of these interactions is currently tapped for the national level assessments. The network and downstream checks, balances, and operations will be explained to help attendees conceptualize how some of these elements might be further engaged as resources.

Ontogeny of a pesticide application with respect to FIFRA/ESA endangered species risk interpretation

2019 Fall National Meeting

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