Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: A Bioenergetics-Based Approach to Understanding and Predicting Individual- to Community-Level Ecological Effects of Manufactured Chemicals
EPA Grant Number: R835800Title: A Bioenergetics-Based Approach to Understanding and Predicting Individual- to Community-Level Ecological Effects of Manufactured Chemicals
Investigators: J. Salice, Christopher
Institution: Towson University
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: September 1, 2015 through August 31, 2018 (Extended to February 28, 2020)
Project Amount: $374,510
RFA: Systems-Based Research for Evaluating Ecological Impacts of Manufactured Chemicals (2014) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Chemical Safety for Sustainability
Objective:
A fundamental goal in ecotoxicology and ecological risk assessment (ERA) is to predict the frequency and magnitude of adverse ecological effects resulting from chemical contaminants. While there is a considerable volume of research generated on the effects of a wide variety of manufactured chemicals on ecologically relevant receptors, the vast majority of studies are focused at levels of biological organization that are most conducive to empirical approaches – the individual and lower. Paradoxically, the levels of biological organization that are most relevant to environmental health and societal value are at the population level and higher (communities and ecosystems). The overarching objective of the proposed research is to develop a bioenergetics-based Adverse Outcome Pathway framework that can translate from individual-level to population- and community-level effects of manufactured chemicals.
Specific Aims Include:
Specific Aim 1: Establish bioenergetics-based responses and associated mathematical models of individual study species exposed to the fungicide, pyraclostrobin, or perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) for 2-4 week exposures, which are representative of relatively low-cost, standardized toxicity tests.
Specific Aim 2: Establish bioenergetics-based responses, life-history effects and population-level effects of individual study species exposed to pyraclostrobin and PFOS using Life Table Response Experimental study designs (full life cycle exposure).
Specific Aim 3: Establish bioenergetics-based responses, life history effects and population-level effects of individual study species exposed to pyraclostrobin or PFOS in addition to the presence of conspecific competitors and predators.
Specific Aim 4: Establish bioenergetics-based responses for simulated communities in mesocosms in response to pyraclostrobin or PFOS exposure with L. stagnalis and D. magna as focal species. Can we predict community-level effects using D. magna and L. stagnalis as species representative of the aquatic community?
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
This research project included many graduate and undergraduate students as well as synergistic collaborations focused on improving our understanding of how effects of toxicants manifest and translate across different levels of biological organization. Here, the focus was on relating responses of individuals to population- and community-level responses. In collaboration with two other investigators, we completed a thorough review and synthesis of ecological risk assessment across different levels of biological organization (Rohr et al., 2016). Researchers also participated in an intensive, multi-investigator collaborative working group sponsored by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) led by PI Salice and Dr. Valery Forbes. The NIMBioS working group also interacted with a second working group led by EPA STAR PI’s, Dr. Roger Nisbet and Dr. Cheryl Murphy. Our working group’s focus had a close symmetry to the objectives of this research project and three papers were published (Forbes et al., 2017; Galic et al. 2019; Forbes et al. 2019) with case study examples of modeling approaches used to relate individual-level toxicity data to effects on ecosystem services. Collectively, these efforts along with specific research projects under this research project have led to significant advances in understanding the manifestation of effects and impacts on management scenarios across different levels of biological organization.
- The research project was structured around developing and conducting toxicity experiments with Lymnaea stagnalis and Daphnia magna involving increasingly complex study designs. Moreover, we hypothesized that a bioenergetics-based approach would provide a means of understanding and ultimately predicting toxicant-induced effects in complex ecological scenarios.
- In a series of studies, we explored the life history, toxicant sensitivity, and bioenergetics impacted by differences in the resource environment. Using L. stagnalis or D. magna, we altered resource quality (both species) as well as resource level (D. magna) mediated by changes in density or food amended and explored these impacts using short-term to population-level experimental designs (Specific Aims 1, 2, and 3).
- In a long series of experiments conducted by multiple graduate students, we explored the impacts of both pyraclostrobin and chloride to D. magna individuals through populations (Specific aims 1-4). Here, the studies on pyraclostrobin are highlighted.
- A critical uncertainty in ecotoxicology and ecological risk assessment is that multiple stressor or factors act on populations at all times in real-world environments. As part of this research (Specific Aims 3 and 4), we explored a range of different stress factors including competitors, predators, and what we have termed “energetic
- Specific Aim 4 was also addressed with a field study in which bioenergetic endpoints were measured in a common invertebrate inhabiting streams along an urban to rural gradient. In the Mid-Atlantic and elsewhere, chloride from road de-icing salts is a significant stressor in aquatic systems. facilitators”.
Conclusions:
Using a variety of study designs from single-species toxicity tests to field studies, research under this project has shown that the resource environment has significant impacts on the manifestation of toxicity across multiple levels of organization. By extension, a bioenergetics-based approach to understanding and predicting effects of manufactured chemicals holds significant promise for advancing ecotoxicology, ecological risk assessment and environmental management. Existing models and measurement endpoints can be used to better understand and predict toxicant impacts. A key challenge, however, lies in understanding toxicant-induced impacts in ecologically complex scenarios where multiple stressors and species can co-occur. As an example, we highlight that some species may serve as “energetic facilitators” by liberating energy from otherwise unavailable sources to recipient species which can then benefit energetically. New hypotheses based on bioenergetics and the resource environment are needed to more fully develop the theory and models; once developed, these can be applied to a wide variety of management scenarios.
Journal Articles on this Report : 7 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 26 publications | 9 publications in selected types | All 9 journal articles |
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Dawson D, Salice C, Subbiah S. The Efficacy of the Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis Larvicide Against Culex tarsalis in Municipal Wastewater and Water from Natural Wetlands. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MOSQUITO CONCTROL ASSOCIATION 2019;35(2):97-106. |
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Fidder B, Reategui-Zirena E, Salice C. Diet Quality Affects Chemical Tolerance in the Freshwater Snail Lymnaea stagnalis. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 2017;37(4):1158-1167 |
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FWoo T, East A, Salice C. Intraspecific interactions affect outcomes of pulse toxicity at different Daphnia magna population phases. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION 2020;267:115398 |
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Green F, Salice C. Increased temperature and lower resource quality exacerbate chloride toxicity to larval Lithobates sylvaticus (wood frog). ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION 2020;266(1):115188 |
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Reategui-Zirena E, Salice C. Parental diet affects embryogenesis of the great pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis) exposed to cadmium, pyraclostrobin, and tributyltin. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 2018;37(9):2428-2438 |
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Song R, Qin Y, Suh S, Keller AA. Dynamic model for the stocks and release flows of engineered nanomaterials. Environmental Science & Technology 2017;51(21):12424-12433. |
R835800 (Final) R835579 (2016) R835579 (2017) R835579 (2018) |
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Weir S, Salice C. Investigating potential toxic effects of pollutants on population growth rates and probability of extinction for a representative squamate. ECOTOXICOLOGY 2020;30(1):175-186 |
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Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.
Project Research Results
- 2019 Progress Report
- 2018 Progress Report
- 2017 Progress Report
- 2016 Progress Report
- Original Abstract
9 journal articles for this project