Abstract |
Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with determining if the manufacture, use, or disposal of a chemical will present an unreasonable risk of harm to the environment. Typically, management decisions are based on protecting populations of organisms. However, the Endangered Species Act requires that, in some cases, managers must estimate the take of individuals to determine if the loss of individuals might adversely affect a population of an endangered or threatened (listed) species. The most direct assessment would be to determine the sensitivity of a listed species to a particular contaminant or perturbation. However, this direct approach would be time consuming and expensive because it might require development of organism culturing and handling procedures, some species may not be amenable to culture, there might be multiple species to be considered, and would be contaminant specific. This research project had two objectives: (1) determine the relative sensitivity to contaminants of listed species using standard acute toxicity tests; and (2) determine the degree of protection afforded listed fish species through the use of standard species used in whole effluent toxicity tests. |