Authors: Jan Baas Sebastiaan A L M Kooijman
Publish Date: 2015/01/07
Volume: 24, Issue: 3, Pages: 657-663
Abstract
Ecotoxicological studies have shown considerable variation in species sensitivity for chemical compounds but general patterns in sensitivity are still not known A better understanding of this sensitivity is important in the context of environmental risk assessment but also in a more general ecological and evolutionary one We investigated the metabolic rate or more precise the specific somatic maintenance expressed in J cm−3 d−1 at a standardised body temperature of 20 °C on the sensitivity of a species to chemical poisoning The sensitivity of a species was expressed in terms of its threshold concentration for survival the no effect concentrations NEC in µmol/L Somatic maintenance data were based on the ‘addmypet’ database hosted by the VU University of Amsterdam NECs were derived from the USEPA ECOTOX database We focussed on four pesticides two that need a metabolic activation Chlorpyrifos and Malathion and two without metabolic activation carbofuran and carbaryl All four pesticides showed a similar response a strong negative correlation between the specific somatic maintenance and the NEC We discuss possible explanations deviations and ecological implications
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