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Toxicity Translation: An emerging theme for modeling to understand adverse effects of chemical exposures on wildlife populations
Citation:
Pollesch, N., Sandy Raimondo, J. Awkerman, D. Miller, AND M. Etterson. Toxicity Translation: An emerging theme for modeling to understand adverse effects of chemical exposures on wildlife populations. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe, Dublin, Virtual Presentation, IRELAND, May 03 - 07, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
This research establishes toxicity translation as a well-defined research area that extrapolates laboratory effects data into field-relevant demographic rates for Ecological Risk Assessment. In addition to providing approaches for robust extrapolations, it will help determine synergies among research efforts and identify tools and techniques to interpret toxicity effects in the appropriate life history context
Description:
To understand the potential for adverse effects of chemical exposure on wildlife, researchers and risk assessors must synthesize chemical exposure potential, the resulting acute and chronic effects to individuals, and what those individual-level effects mean for population-level impacts. Toxicity translators are tools developed to facilitate the application of laboratory-derived endpoints (e.g., EC20, LC50) as ecologically-relevant representations of how population demography may be affected. This research defines the field of toxicity translation by highlighting the common challenges and approaches used in the interpretation of test endpoints within different taxa and using different modeling techniques. Here, we discuss aspects of laboratory test data and modeling approaches and evaluate the potential for computational linkages between available data sources, exposure models, effect models, and population/community models. We introduce a suite of toxicity translators adapted to characteristic life cycle and habitat influences that are representative of birds, fish, amphibians, and invertebrates, emphasizing how toxicity translators leverage existing datasets, models, and theoretical approaches. Establishing toxicity translation as a well-defined research area will help determine synergies among research efforts and identify tools and techniques to interpret toxicity effects in the appropriate life history context.
