Studies on ecological risk assessment of pesticide using species sensitivity distribution

Abstract

Species sensitivity distribution (SSD) is a key concept of probabilistic analysis for quantifying ecological risk. I developed a method of probabilistic ecological risk assessment in Japan with a case study of the herbicide simetryn. Then, risk comparison among eleven herbicides was conducted using the developed method. However, one of the most important limitations of SSD application is the lack of sufficient toxicity data for SSD analysis. Thus, an ecotoxicity database was developed for the application of SSD to a wide range of pesticides. After that, I proposed that species batteries of the five species should be the standardized dataset for the SSD analysis of insecticides and herbicides. Finally, I have published a technical guidance document for SSD analysis written in Japanese to promote the application of SSDs in Japan. The remarkable point is that the supplemental Excel-based tool makes it easy to analyze SSDs and conduct ecological risk assessments.

Cytotoxicity, Oxidative Stress and Biochemical Alterations Induced by Traditional and Nanoform of Pendimethalin in Freshwater Alga Chlorella vulgaris

“…This is a method for evaluating risk as an exceedance probability of environmental concentration to toxicity of aquatic organisms by considering the uncertainty of toxicity and pesticide exposure. For example, Japan's pesticide registration criteria based on ecological risk assessment are set by Japan's Ministry of Environment under the pesticide regulation law [38]. Under the risk assessment scheme, acute toxicity tests are conducted for fish (Cyprinus carpio), daphnids (Daphnia magna), and alga (P. subcapitata) and then the acute EC 50 or LC 50 divided by an uncertainty factor that considers the species sensitivity difference (default 10, but depends on the data for fish and crustaceans and 1 for algae).…”

Ecological Risks Due to Immunotoxicological Effects on Aquatic Organisms

“…Using SSD dataset, it is available to estimate a ratio of species impacted by pollution chemicals. A ratio of species impacted is recognized as an indicator of an impact for biodiversity (species diversity) and useful for quantitative risk assessment of pesticides [ 193 ]. To preserve species diversity in the aquatic ecosystem, HC5 (5% Hazardous Concentration), which means an equivalent chemical concentration that 5% of species would be impacted (95% of species would be preserved), has been defined as no-effect concentrations [ 194 , 195 , 196 ] and has been considered reasonable for environmental safety in case of pesticides [ 197 , 198 , 199 , 200 ].…”

Ecotoxicological and Chemical Approach to Assessing Environmental Effects from Pesticide Use in Organic and Conventional Rice Paddies

“…The 5th percentile of this distribution (called the 5% Hazardous Concentration, HC5) has been used by USEPA [34], the RIVM Institute (The Netherlands) [35], and the European Commission [36] for deriving threshold concentrations that protect most species in a community. Researches based on SSD were conducted for Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) of several paddy insecticides and herbicides applying the Potentially Affected Fraction (PAF) as index of the magnitude of ecological risk capable of reducing diversity [32,[37][38].…”