Scientific Opinion on the importance of the soil litter layer in agricultural areas

In the soil litter layer specific exposure to plant protection products takes place, including direct exposure, uptake via food, and food web transfer (biomagnification). Furthermore it is an important energy resource in soil and thus of vital importance for maintaining organism communities and their large biodiversity. Not protecting the natural processes and organisms in litter will fail the objectives of the EU regarding biodiversity, soil erosion, organic matter decline, etc. As a consequence, the litter layer should be considered in the environmental risk assessment of plant protection products. The opinion gives an overview of the composition of litter in an agricultural context, on the underlying processes which play a role in the decomposition of litter and an outline of how to consider the litter layer in the environmental risk assessment of plant protection products. Furthermore the Panel addresses the need of considering particular issues for this purpose.