The effects of aerially applied fenitrothion and chlorpyrifos on birds in the savannah of northern Senegal.
Abstract
The effects of applications of locust insecticides on birds were studied in the savannah of northern Senegal in 1989. The insecticides studied were fenitrothion at 485 and 825 g/ha and chlorpyrifos at 270 and 387 g/ha. Total bird numbers decreased on all treated plots. Decreases in 3 of the most abundant species were significant in the fenitrothion plots. Some of the decrease was due to bird mortality, but apparently most of it represented movement of birds due to a reduction in their arthropod food. The reduction in grasshoppers was 4 times greater on the fenitrothion plots as on the chlorpyrifos plots, and this difference was reflected by a decrease in the insects eaten by birds after treatments.