Integrative Tools to Evaluate the Impact of Pesticide Practices on Surface Wate

In June 2014, a suite of integrative monitoring tools was deployed in two agriculturally influenced French catchments with distinct agro-pedoclimatic contexts. Passive samplers captured time-integrated pesticide concentrations over deployment periods, while biomonitoring using caged gammarids and on-site analyses of native microbial communities assessed toxic impacts on aquatic organisms. The combined approach successfully discriminated between different pesticide pressure types, revealed spatial gradients (upstream to downstream, sub-basin hierarchies) and temporal variations (flood influences) in contamination, and confirmed or nuanced purely chemical data. These tools showed high sensitivity, responsiveness, and operational promise for improving contamination diagnostics and evaluating mitigation plans.