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Plant growers’ environmental consciousness may not be enough to mitigate pollinator declines: a questionnaire-based case study in Hungary

View ORCID ProfileZsófia Varga-Szilay, View ORCID ProfileGábor Pozsgai
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.07.487523
Zsófia Varga-Szilay
1Doctoral School of Biology, Institute of Biology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
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Gábor Pozsgai
2cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group, CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Universidade dos Açores, Açores, Portugal
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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND Pesticides are one of the most important anthropogenic-related stressors. In times of global pollinator decline, the role of integrated farming and that of urban gardens in supporting wild pollinators is becoming increasingly important. We circulated an online questionnaire to survey the plant protection practices among Hungarian farmers and garden owners with a particular emphasis on pollinator protection.

RESULTS We found that plant growers heavily rely on pesticide use, and pesticides are widely used in otherwise pollinator-friendly gardens. Whether pesticide use practices were driven by expert opinion and the respondents’ gender were the best predictors of pesticide use. Although most respondents supported pollinators, pesticides are also widely used among home garden owners, which can pose a non-evident ecological trap for pollinator populations in the gardens.

CONCLUSION Special attention should be paid to implementing measures to reduce pesticide, use not only in farmlands but also in home gardens. Environmental education and financial support through agroecological schemes could efficiently promote the transition. However, whereas farmers can be encouraged to reduce pesticide use mostly by expert advice, garden owners are likely to rely on more conventional information channels. The attitude of Hungarian plant growers can provide an insight into pesticide use practices of Central and Eastern European countries, but similar surveys are needed across Europe for a complete understanding of broad-scale processes. This work lays the foundations for similar studies which can inform and facilitate the transformation processes to pesticide-free farming and gardening.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • The title of the manuscript has been changed. Minor edits in the Abstract. Minor revision in the text; the main text at a few points have been revised. Figure 3 revised.

  • https://github.com/zsvargaszilay/pesticide_questionnaire

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted September 18, 2022.
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Plant growers’ environmental consciousness may not be enough to mitigate pollinator declines: a questionnaire-based case study in Hungary
Zsófia Varga-Szilay, Gábor Pozsgai
bioRxiv 2022.04.07.487523; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.07.487523
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Plant growers’ environmental consciousness may not be enough to mitigate pollinator declines: a questionnaire-based case study in Hungary
Zsófia Varga-Szilay, Gábor Pozsgai
bioRxiv 2022.04.07.487523; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.07.487523

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