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Comprehensive mollusk acute toxicity database improves the use of Interspecies Correlation Estimation (ICE) models to predict toxicity of untested freshwater and endangered mussel species
Citation:
Raimondo, Sandy, L. Lee, CrystalR Jackson, M. Barron, AND T. Augspurger. Comprehensive mollusk acute toxicity database improves the use of Interspecies Correlation Estimation (ICE) models to predict toxicity of untested freshwater and endangered mussel species. Presented at SETAC North America 34th Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, November 17 - 21, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
Invited presentation on the improved use of ICE to predict acute toxicity to freshwater mussels
Description:
Interspecies correlation estimation (ICE) models extrapolate acute toxicity data from surrogate test species to untested taxa. A suite of ICE models developed from a comprehensive database is available on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s web-based application, Web-ICE (http://epa.gov/ceampubl/fchain/webice/). A recent Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Science Advisory Panel review of ICE models for application in pesticide registration and development of Ambient Water Quality Criteria (AWQC) determined that currently available Web-ICE models are limited in their ability to predict toxicity to freshwater mussels, a taxa of concern for both endangered species risk assessment and for minimum data requirements for (AWQC). We developed an extensive database of mollusk toxicity data to expand the number of ICE models that predict toxicity to mussel species. Over 1400 mollusk toxicity values, greater than 50% of which were for unionid mussels (glochidia and juvenile), were added to the existing Web-ICE database. The new mollusk database consists of 103 species and 78 chemicals. Over 75 additional ICE models were developed to predict to unionid mussels, compared to 2 from the original suite of Web-ICE model set. An evaluation of uncertainty using model cross validation identified the surrogates that produced the most robust predictions for various mussel species of concern. These models predicted mussel toxicity within 5-fold of the measured value with high confidence. The mollusk toxicity addendum to the Web-ICE database considerably increases the number of models that predict to endangered freshwater mussels, adding to the utility of Web-ICE in endangered species risk assessment and development of AWQC.