Citation:

Raimondo, S. AND M. Barron. Application of Interspecies Correlation Estimation (ICE) models and QSAR in estimating species sensitivity to pesticides. SAR AND QSAR IN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH. Taylor & Francis, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, 31, 2020(1):1-18, (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/1062936X.2019.1686716

Impact/Purpose:

The assessment of ecological risks of chemical contaminants is complex because of the diversity of species potentially affected and the challenges associated with protecting diverse communities of organisms inhabiting aquatic and terrestrial systems. A standard approach adopted globally has been to test a limited number of standard organisms that are assumed to represent the diversity of potentially affected species. These test species can then be used as surrogates for communities or species of concern; however, their representativeness to other species and taxa introduces significant uncertainty in Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA). Interspecies Correlation Estimation (ICE) models have been developed from existing acute toxicity data to extrapolate species sensitivity to a diverse array of taxa from surrogate species and has been used to augment toxicity databases. This review of ICE model applications demonstrates previous and potential future contributions of ICE-estimated toxicity values using surrogate test data and Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) model output. This review article provides an overview of the technical basis of ICE model development and validation, describes the internet application on which ICE models are accessible, and demonstrates their use with overviews of previously conducted and publicly available examples of its application.

Description:

Ecological risk assessment is challenged by the need to assess hazard to the diverse communities of organisms inhabiting aquatic and terrestrial systems. Computational approaches, such as Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships (QSAR) and Interspecies Correlation Estimation (ICE) models, are useful tools that provide estimates of acute toxicity where data are lacking or limited for ecological risk assessments (ERA). This review describes the technical basis of ICE models for use in pesticide ERA that may be used in conjunction with QSAR model estimates or surrogate species toxicity data and demonstrates the potential for improving hazard assessment. Validation and uncertainty analysis of ICE model predictions are summarized and used as guidance for selecting ICE models and evaluating toxicity predictions. A user-friendly web-based ICE modelling platform (Web-ICE) is described and demonstrated through case studies. Case studies include the development of Species Sensitivity Distributions generated from QSAR and ICE estimates, comparative sensitivity for a pesticide and its degradate, and application of ICE-estimated toxicity values for listed species assessments.

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