A University of Saskatchewan led study shows insecticides threaten the survival of wild birds.

The study will be published in the journal Science on Friday, and is the first experiment to track the effects of neonicotinoid pesticide on birds in the wild.

The study found that white-crowned sparrows who consumed small doses of an insecticide called imidacloprid suffered weight loss and delays to their migration which researchers say could severely harm the birds’ ability to survive and reproduce.

Margaret Eng, with the USask Toxicology Centre, and lead author of the study, says they used doses well within the range of what a bird could realistically consume in the wild.

Neoniotinoids are the most commonly used class of agricultural insecticides. They are often applied as a seed coating or as a spray on most major crops world wide.

At one time, its toxic effects were thought to affect only insects, like bees, but now there is growing evidence birds exposed to the pesticides are also suffering negative consequences.

Biologist Bridget Stutchbury of York University and Christy Morrissey, an ecotoxicologist in the USASK School of Environment and Sustainability collaborated on the research.