Cytological and biochemical effects of pesticides on microorganisms

Widespread use of pesticides1 has greatly benefited mankind by increasing food and fiber production, controlling the vectors of serious human and animal diseases, protecting structures from damage, and controlling weeds, etc. However, we have largely overlooked the problem of environmental pollution caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. The biological activity of pesticides is not only restricted to the target organisms but extends to nontarget organisms as well. Among the non-target organisms, microorganisms are of major concern because they are more responsible to their environment as they are involved in many basic ecological processes such as biogeochemical cycling, decomposition processes, energy production, energy transformation through trophic levels, and numerous microbe-microbe, microbe-plant, and microbe-animal inter-actions.