Ecotoxicological assessment of di use pollution using biomonitoring tool for sustainable land use in Thailand

As a developing country, Thailand has a significant issue with di use pollution of the soil ecosystem due to an indiscriminate use of agrichemicals and poorly regulated disposal of a wide variety of hazardous wastes. Practical risk assessment tools based on locallyoccurring species are needed to assess the e ects of di use pollutants on the soil ecosystem in Thailand because reliance on soil criteria developed for overseas conditions may provide inadequate protection. Native soil organisms in Thailand may be more or less sensitive to contaminants compared to overseas test species. This article described a biological indicator approach for ecological risk assessment of di use pollution in the soil ecosystem of Thailand from pesticide application with the aim of developing standardized protocols using native species and locally generated data to better evaluate the ecological risks of non-point source soil pollution. It was found that ecotoxicological assessment provided a better understanding of the ecological impacts that di use pollution induced on Thai environmental conditions. Thai soil biota species were more sensitive to soil contaminants than similar species overseas. Soil series also had an influence on the ecotoxicology of contaminants to soil biota. Collembolan, Cyphoderus sp., was demonstrated as a useful alternative test species to Folsomia candida (international test species) for terrestrial ecotoxicological testing of Thai soils. In addition, the soil biota activities such as soil respiration and earthworm avoidance including soil biodiversity and the litter bag decomposition technique are also good tools to assess the e ects of di use pollution by pesticides on the soil ecosystem of Thailand.