The Food Web Approach in Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment

Berg, M.M.H.E. van den; Tamis, W.L.M.; Straalen, Nico M. van

doi:10.1080/10807039891284208

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The term 'ecologically relevant' is not precisely defined: clearly the most relevant level for studying the effects of chemicals is the community and/or ecosystem, and there are approaches which aim to understand, or at least quantify, responses to pollution at this level (see, for example, [ 10 - 14 ]). Here, however, we refer to controlled studies on single species that may already be widely studied but are not classic model organisms; for example, animals used in regulatory ecotoxicity tests fall into this category, such as the earthworm Eisenia fetida , the enchytraeid Enchytraeus albidus , and collembolans Folsomia candida and Orchesella cincta for terrestrial, and Daphnia magna , Gammarus pulex , chironomid larvae and Mytilus species for aquatic testing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

'Systems toxicology' approach identifies coordinated metabolic responses to copper in a terrestrial non-model invertebrate, the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundNew methods are needed for research into non-model organisms, to monitor the effects of toxic disruption at both the molecular and functional organism level. We exposed earthworms (Lumbricus rubellus Hoffmeister) to sub-lethal levels of copper (10–480 mg/kg soil) for 70 days as a real-world situation, and monitored both molecular (cDNA transcript microarrays and nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolic profiling: metabolomics) and ecological/functional endpoints (reproduction rate and weight change, which have direct relevance to population-level impacts).ResultsBoth of the molecular endpoints, metabolomics and transcriptomics, were highly sensitive, with clear copper-induced differences even at levels below those that caused a reduction in reproductive parameters. The microarray and metabolomic data provided evidence that the copper exposure led to a disruption of energy metabolism: transcripts of enzymes from oxidative phosphorylation were significantly over-represented, and increases in transcripts of carbohydrate metabolising enzymes (maltase-glucoamylase, mannosidase) had corresponding decreases in small-molecule metabolites (glucose, mannose). Treating both enzymes and metabolites as functional cohorts led to clear inferences about changes in energetic metabolism (carbohydrate use and oxidative phosphorylation), which would not have been possible by taking a 'biomarker' approach to data analysis.ConclusionMultiple post-genomic techniques can be combined to provide mechanistic information about the toxic effects of chemical contaminants, even for non-model organisms with few additional mechanistic toxicological data. With 70-day no-observed-effect and lowest-observed-effect concentrations (NOEC and LOEC) of 10 and 40 mg kg-1 for metabolomic and microarray profiles, copper is shown to interfere with energy metabolism in an important soil organism at an ecologically and functionally relevant level.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%