Inferring ecological risk from toxicity bioassays

The difficulties of relating ecological risks to the results of bioassays are discussed using 3 questions: are ecosystem level assessments impossible; are population-level assessments necessary; and what endpoints can be used at the population level? Five conclusions are drawn. Methods developed for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water, air and soil pollution air and soil pollution, 1996-07, Vol.90 (1-2), p.71-82
Main Authors: FERSON, S, GINZBURG, L. R, GOLDSTEIN, R. A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
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Summary:The difficulties of relating ecological risks to the results of bioassays are discussed using 3 questions: are ecosystem level assessments impossible; are population-level assessments necessary; and what endpoints can be used at the population level? Five conclusions are drawn. Methods developed for human health risk assessments focused on individuals were inappropriate for ecological risk assessments when the emphasis was on entire populations. There was insufficient knowledge to extrapolate the results of toxicity bioassays to predict their effects on entire ecosystems. The consequences of a putative environmental impact could only be interpreted in the context of population dynamics. Ecological risk assessment was appropriately expressed in terms of the risks of population decline rather than as a hazard quotient or scalar estimate of population growth. Lastly, the time horizon for an assessment should be finite, and explicit in the analysis. There are 42 references.
ISSN:0049-6979
1573-2932
DOI:10.1007/BF00619269