Using species sensitivity distributions to assess the toxicity of pesticides on nitrifiers and broader microbial groups: From single-species tests to soil amplicon sequencing.

Soil microbial groups show varying sensitivity to metsulfuron-methyl, with hazard concentration 5% (HC 5 ) values ranging from 0.001 to 0.1 mg kg -1, highlighting differential risks.

• Why it matters: Understanding pesticide impacts on soil microorganisms is crucial for ecosystem health, yet current tests often fail to capture complex community responses, risking inadequate risk assessments.
• What they did: Researchers combined amplicon sequencing with species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) based on single-species tests and soil microbial communities, analyzing effects of metsulfuron-methyl on nitrifiers, prokaryotes, and fungi.
• The result: Findings reveal that single-species data tend to be more conservative, and soil-based SSDs suggest lower risk levels, supporting integrated approaches for more accurate pesticide risk assessments on soil microbes.