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The biotic ligand model approach for addressing effects of exposure water chemistry on aquatic toxicity of metals: Genesis and challenges
Citation:
Erickson, R. The biotic ligand model approach for addressing effects of exposure water chemistry on aquatic toxicity of metals: Genesis and challenges. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, 32(6):1212-1214, (2013).
Impact/Purpose:
A major uncertainty in many aquatic risk assessments for toxic chemicals is the aggregate effect of the physicochemical characteristics of exposure media on toxicity, and how this affects extrapolation of laboratory test results to natural systems. A notable example of this is how heavy metal toxicity in freshwater varies due to factors such as water hardness, alkalinity, pH, dissolved organic carbon, and suspended solids. This has been the subject of hundreds of studies over the last 50 years and of various papers in ET&C since its inception, including four of the "Top 100" cited papers [1-3,23]. One study found acute copper LC50s for fathead minnows to vary by more than 100-fold across various exposure water compositions well within the range observed in natural systems [1]. Approaches for modeling such variability have also been the subject of many efforts. An important example of this is the "biotic ligand model" (BLM), a modeling approach first described and implemented in [2-3] and a focus of considerable research activity and regulatory development over the last 15 years.
Description:
A major uncertainty in many aquatic risk assessments for toxic chemicals is the aggregate effect of the physicochemical characteristics of exposure media on toxicity, and how this affects extrapolation of laboratory test results to natural systems. A notable example of this is how heavy metal toxicity in freshwater varies due to factors such as water hardness, alkalinity, pH, dissolved organic carbon, and suspended solids. This has been the subject of hundreds of studies over the last 50 years and of various papers in ET&C since its inception, including four of the "Top 100" cited papers [1-3,23]. One study found acute copper LC50s for fathead minnows to vary by more than 100-fold across various exposure water compositions well within the range observed in natural systems [1]. Approaches for modeling such variability have also been the subject of many efforts. An important example of this is the "biotic ligand model" (BLM), a modeling approach first described and implemented in [2-3] and a focus of considerable research activity and regulatory development over the last 15 years.
