Modelling the Sensitivity of Aquatic Organisms to Toxicants Using SimpleBiological and Physico-Chemical Factors

摘要

The performance of a simple mechanistic model is studied in explainingdifferences in the sensitivity of species to toxicants. Body weight, surface area and fat content of organisms in relation to the hydrophobicity of the compound are used to explain differences in species, sensitivity. The report is part of a project directed at the development of Quantitative Species Sensitivity Relationships (QSSR's) models that predict the sensitivity of species to toxicants. A comparison is made between model predictions of toxicity and experimental toxicity data gathered from literature for two compounds (1,2,4 trichlorobenzene and lindane) and different aquatic species. The model appears suitable for the prediction of the effects of short term environmental exposures of hydrophobic compounds. For compounds with a specific mode of action, like lindane, the model could only be applied for species comparable with those used for model calibration. To extend the model to a larger number of toxicants, toxicological relevant biological parameters or empirical relations, describing differences in intrinsic species sensitivity have to be included in the model.