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Author version made available in accordance with the publisher's policyContext: Despite the regular use of pesticides to control locusts, there is a general lack of information on the effects of locust control treatments on reptiles worldwide. Exposure to pesticides poses a significant potential hazard to reptiles, particularly small lizards, both from the direct effects of exposure, and indirectly due to their largely insectivorous diet and small home ranges.  \udAims: Our study aimed to monitor the effects of two insecticides applied operationally for locust control in Australia.A phenyl pyrazole pesticide, fipronil, and a fungal biopesticide, Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridium (Green Guard®) were applied aerially in either a barrier or block treatment in the absence of high density locust populations, and effects on non-target Australian arid-zone reptiles were measured. \udMethods: We monitored reptile abundance and community composition responses to treatment methods using a large field-based pitfall trapping experiment with replicated control and spraying treatments which approximated the scale of aerial-based locust control operations in Australia. \udKey results: Neither reptile abundance nor community composition was significantly affected by locust control treatments. However, both abundance and community composition as detected by pitfall trapping changed over time, in both control and treatment plots, possibly due to a decrease in annual rainfall during the two years of the study. \udConclusions: The absence of any significant short-term pesticide treatment effects in our study suggests that the two locust control application methods studied present a relatively insignificant hazard to reptiles at our site, based on a single application. Similar to other areas of Australia, climate or climate driven vegetation change are likely to be stronger drivers of reptile abundance and community structure. \udImplications: Monitoring over an area which approximates the scale of current locust control operations is an important step in understanding the possible effects of current pesticide exposure on reptile populations and will inform insecticide risk assessments in Australia. However, important information on the immediate response of individuals to insecticide application and any longer-term effects of exposure are still missing. The preliminary research reported in this paper should be complemented by future investigations on long-term and sublethal impacts of pesticide exposure on Australian native reptiles and the possible benefits provided to reptiles by the resource pulses represented in untreated high-density locust population

wildlife research

Current insecticide treatments used in locust control have less of a short-term impact on Australian arid-zone reptile communities than does temporal variation