Summary
Pesticides remain a cornerstone of modern agriculture. Despite their key role, it is well documented that pesticides can have considerable off-target effects on a range of organisms. The effects of pesticides on soil health, and more importantly on soil microbiota, are currently not well addressed at the regulatory level, despite cumulative evidence for the pivotal role of the soil microbiota on ecosystem functioning. Here, we use a meta-analysis to assess the effects of pesticides on soil health parameters identifying key biological indicators for environmental risk assessment analysis. We demonstrate that ammonia oxidizing archaeal and bacterial amoA gene abundance were the most consistent indicators for pesticide exposure, with inhibition driven by herbicides and fungicides. Our meta-an
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