A similarity‐index–based method to estimate chemical concentration limits protective for ecological communities

Kefford, Ben J.; Schäfer, Ralf B.; Liess, Matthias; Goonan, Peter; Metzeling, Leon; Nugegoda, Dayanthi

doi:10.1002/etc.256

Cited by 23 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Liess & von der Ohe, 2005;Sch€ afer et al, 2007;Liess, Sch€ afer & Schriever, 2008) and to link community change to toxicants in field data (e.g. Kefford et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gene‐to‐ecosystem impacts of a catastrophic pesticide spill: testing a multilevel bioassessment approach in a river ecosystem

et al. 2015

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SUMMARY1. Pesticides can have strong deleterious impacts in fresh waters, but understanding how these effects cascade through natural ecosystems, from microbes to apex predators, is limited because research that spans multiple levels of biological organisation is rare. 2. We report how an accidental insecticide spill altered the structure and functioning of a river across levels ranging from genes to ecosystems. We quantified the impacts on assemblages of microbes, diatoms, macroinvertebrates and fish and measured leaf-litter decomposition rates and microbial functional potential at upstream control and downstream impacted sites 2 months after the spill. 3. Both direct and indirect impacts were evident across multiple levels of organisation and taxa, from the base of the food web to higher trophic levels. At the molecular level, differences in functional gene abundance within the impacted sites reflected a combination of direct and indirect effects of the pesticide, via elevated abundances of microbial populations capable of using chlorpyrifos as a resource (i.e. direct effect) and oxidising ammonia released by decaying macroinvertebrate carcasses (i.e. indirect effect). 4. At the base of the food chains, diatom taxa found only in the impacted sites were an order-ofmagnitude larger in cell size than the largest comparable taxa in control communities, following the near extirpation of their consumers. Population biomass of the key detritivore Gammarus pulex was markedly lower, as was the rate of litter decomposition in the impacted sites. This was partially compensated for, however, by elevated microbial breakdown, suggesting another indirect food-web effect of the toxic spill. 5. Although many species exhibited population crashes or local extirpation, total macroinvertebrate biomass and abundance were largely unaffected due to a compensatory elevation in small tolerant taxa such as oligochaetes, and/or taxa which were in their adult aerial life stage at the time of the spill (e.g. chironomids) and thus avoided contact with the polluted waters and were able to repopulate the river quickly. Mass-abundance scaling of trophic links between consumers and resources revealed extensive restructuring within the food web. 6. This case study shows that pesticides can affect food-web structure and ecosystem functioning, both directly and indirectly across levels of biological organisation. It also demonstrates how an integrated assessment approach, as adopted here, can elucidate links between microbiota,

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“…Liess & von der Ohe, 2005;Sch€ afer et al, 2007;Liess, Sch€ afer & Schriever, 2008) and to link community change to toxicants in field data (e.g. Kefford et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gene‐to‐ecosystem impacts of a catastrophic pesticide spill: testing a multilevel bioassessment approach in a river ecosystem

et al. 2015

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“…Biodiversity indices, on the other hand, are poor indicators of ecosystem changes [137,143]. Similarity indices have also been used to estimate chemical thresholds that protect ecological communities from contaminants in freshwater systems [144]. Structural changes are usually detected by such similarity indices or by measuring the species richness, both of which are good indicators of ecosystem health and can be used to assess the impacts of pollutants on ecosystems [145].…”

Section: Mesocosms and Microcosmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Risk Assessment of Agrochemicals — A Critical Appraisal of Current Approaches

Sánchez‐Bayo¹,

Tennekes²

2015

Toxicity and Hazard of Agrochemicals

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This chapter provides insights into the difficulties and challenges of performing risk evaluations of agrochemicals. It is a critical review of the current methodologies used in ecological risk assessment of these chemicals, not their risks to humans. After an introduction to the topic, the current framework for ecological risk assessment is outlined. Two types of assessments are typically carried out depending on the purpose: i) regulatory assessments for registration of a chemical product; and ii) ecological assessments, for the protection of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, which are usually site-specific. Although the general framework is well established, the methodologies used in each of the steps of the assessment are fraught with a number of shortcomings. Notwithstanding the subjectivity implicit in the evaluation of risks, there is scepticism in scientific circles about the appropriateness of the current methodologies because, after so many years of evaluations, we are still incapable of foreseeing the negative consequences that some agrochemicals have in the environment. A critical appraisal of such methodologies is imperative if we are to improve the current assessment process and fix the problems we face today. The chapter reviews first the toxicity assessment methods, pointing to the gaps in knowledge about this essential part of the process and suggesting avenues for further improvement. Deficiencies in the current regulations regarding toxicity testing are discussed, in particular the effect of the time factor on toxicity and the issue of complex mixtures.

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“…Besides maximum temperature and salinity, other factors may influence the occurrence of mollusc species in the river Rhine, including, for example, wave conditions (Gabel et al 2011) or minimum temperature (Weitere et al 2009). In addition, a proper validation requires extensive sampling of species, preferably along an environmental gradient with limited and well documented environmental conditions (Kefford et al 2006(Kefford et al , 2010. As the mollusc survey data used to calculate the NOFs were not specifically obtained for the yearly maximum temperature and salinity values used to calculate the PNOFs, the PNOFs cannot be validated for single years.…”

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confidence: 99%

Sensitivity of native and non-native mollusc species to changing river water temperature and salinity

et al. 2011

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Climate change may strongly affect the abiotic conditions in riverine ecosystems, for example by changing water temperature regimes and salinisation due to sea water intrusion and evaporation. We analysed the effects of changes in water temperature and salinity on the species pool of freshwater molluscs in the river Rhine. Species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) for maximum temperature and salinity tolerance were constructed for native and non-native species that are currently present in the river Rhine. The maximum temperature tolerance was significantly higher for nonnative mollusc species than native ones. For salinity tolerance, no significant difference was found between the two groups. The SSDs were used to determine the potentially not occurring fractions (PNOFs) of each species group corresponding with the yearly maximum water temperature and salinity levels recorded in (1) different river sections for the extreme warm and dry year 2003, and (2) the river Rhine at Lobith (The Netherlands) over the period . Changing temperature and salinity conditions in the river Rhine over the past 50 years corresponded with a net increase in PNOF for native species. This was mainly due to rising river water temperatures, which had a larger influence than decreasing salinity levels. For non-native species no change in PNOF was found, indicating that future temperature rise will disproportionally affect native mollusc species. Validation of the PNOF estimated for Lobith with the not occurring fraction (NOF) of mollusc species derived from monitoring data revealed similar trends for native as well as non-native mollusc species richness. The increase in the PNOF accounted for 14% of the increase in the NOF. The construction and application of SSDs appeared a promising approach to address the separate and combined effects of changing abiotic conditions on native and non-native species pools.

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A similarity‐index–based method to estimate chemical concentration limits protective for ecological communities

Cited by 23 publications

References 33 publications

Gene‐to‐ecosystem impacts of a catastrophic pesticide spill: testing a multilevel bioassessment approach in a river ecosystem

Gene‐to‐ecosystem impacts of a catastrophic pesticide spill: testing a multilevel bioassessment approach in a river ecosystem

Environmental Risk Assessment of Agrochemicals — A Critical Appraisal of Current Approaches

Sensitivity of native and non-native mollusc species to changing river water temperature and salinity

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