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INTERSPECIES CORRELATION ESTIMATIONS: ACUTE TOXICITY TO AQUATIC ORGANISMS
Citation:
Mayer Jr., F L., M. R. Ellersieck, AND A. Asfaw. INTERSPECIES CORRELATION ESTIMATIONS: ACUTE TOXICITY TO AQUATIC ORGANISMS. Presented at SETAC 22nd Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, Nov. 11 - 15, 2001.
Description:
Predictive toxicological models, including estimates of uncertainty, are necessary to address the trend towards probability-based ecological risk assessments. A method and software were developed to aid in estimating acute toxicity of chemicals to species where data is lacking, particularly endangered species. Interspecies correlation models for acute toxicity were derived for 53 aquatic organisms using Model II least squares regression, where both variables are independent and subject to measurement error (log Y = a + b[log X]. Only those species with paired tests on five or more chemicals were analyzed. The resulting 618 models consisted
of 53 aquatic species (1 alga, 16 invertebrates, 33 fishes, 3 amphibians), including 15 endangered ones. Toxicity of a chemical to one species could be predicted from toxicity to another species with known uncertainty. Correlations were best within a family, decreasing with increasing taxonomic distance. However, rainbow trout was the most useful of all species for acute estimations among more than one family. Along with the poster, a Windows-based software program, Interspecies Correlation Estimations (ICE), will be demonstrated.