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ESTIMATING ACUTE AND CRONIC TOXICITY OF CHEMICALS FOR ENDANGERED FISHES
Citation:
Mayer Jr., F L., M. R. Ellersieck, A. Asfaw, AND D. R. Buckler. ESTIMATING ACUTE AND CRONIC TOXICITY OF CHEMICALS FOR ENDANGERED FISHES. Presented at 24th SETAC Annual Meeting, Austin, TX, Nov 9-13, 2003.
Description:
Predictive toxicological models, including estimates of uncertainty, are necessary to perform probability-based ecological risk assessments. This is particularly true for the protection of endangered species that are not prudent to test, other species that have not been tested or are not feasible to test, and when minimal data sets exist for a chemical. Interspecies correlation and accelerated life testing procedures were used to estimate acute and chronic toxicity values, respectively. For acute toxicity, 13 endangered or closely related species and 3 surrogate test species (fathead minnow, rainbow trout, sheepshead minnow) were tested with 5 chemicals (carbaryl, copper, 4-nonylphenol, pentachlorophenol, permethrin), and 2 endangered and 2 surrogate species were tested for chronic toxicity with copper and pentachlorophenol. These actual values were compared to estimated toxicity values, and in all cases, the estimates were within a factor of 2.0 of the test values; average uncertainties were : 1) acute 95% CL = (greater than or equal to 0.55 less than or equal to 2.0) (estimated value) and 2) chronic 95% CL = (greater than or equal to 0.38 less than or equal to 1.6)(estimated value). Thus, interspecies correlation and accelerated life testing models appear acceptable as accurate estimators of acute and chronic toxicity of fishes.