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Development of Toxicity Translator Models for Population Level Risk Assessment
Citation:
Kadlec, S., J. Awkerman, D. Miller, N. Pollesch, Sandy Raimondo, M. Thiel, AND M. Etterson. Development of Toxicity Translator Models for Population Level Risk Assessment. SETAC North America, Fort Worth, TX, November 15 - 19, 2020. https://doi.org/10.23645/epacomptox.13171826
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation is intended to demonstrate to the ecotox community the conceptual and practical development a toxicity translator. Our goals are to generate discussion and solicit feedback on the specific toxicity translators in progress by CCTE researchers. Intended audience is ecotoxicologists in government, industry, and academia.
Description:
Toxicity translators are linked models that predict population-level effects of anthropogenic stressors on wildlife. They can be used by risk assessors to quantify the risks to populations associated with specific exposure scenarios, while leveraging data generated by standardized toxicity tests. They are created by integrating empirical individual-level toxicity test data, field surveys, and estimating parameters from the literature to synthesize into life histories of the taxa of interest. A well-known example is the MCnest avian nesting model, which has been in use for USEPA pesticide risk assessment since 2014. Our team within the EPA’s Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure has a suite of toxicity translators in various stages of development, which address population-level effects on birds, invertebrates, fish, and amphibians. Each toxicity translator has presented distinct challenges leading to different modeling approaches. This poster will serve as an introduction to the concept of toxicity translators, a summary of the computational approaches being used for each of the translators under development by our team, and an opportunity to connect with the researchers currently engaged in these projects.
