Developing ecological scenarios for the prospective aquatic risk assessment of pesticides

The prospective aquatic environmental risk assessment (ERA) of pesticides is generally based on the comparison of predicted environmental concentrations in edge-of-field surface waters with regulatory acceptable concentrations derived from laboratory and/or model ecosystem experiments with aquatic organisms. New improvements in mechanistic effect modeling have allowed a better characterization of the ecological risks of pesticides through the incorporation of biological trait information and landscape parameters to assess individual, population and/or community-level effects and recovery. Similarly to exposure models, ecological models require scenarios that describe the environmental context in which they are applied. In this article, we propose a conceptual framework for the development of ecological scenarios that, when merged with exposure scenarios, will constitute environmental scenarios for prospective aquatic ERA. These "unified" environmental scenarios are defined as the combination of the biotic and abiotic parameters that are required to characterize exposure, (direct and indirect) effects, and recovery of aquatic nontarget species under realistic worst-case conditions. Ideally, environmental scenarios aim to avoid a potential mismatch between the parameter values and the spatial-temporal scales currently used in aquatic exposure and effect modeling. This requires a deeper understanding of the ecological entities we intend to protect, which can be preliminarily addressed by the formulation of ecological scenarios. In this article we present a methodological approach for the development of ecological scenarios and illustrate this approach by a case-study for Dutch agricultural ditches and the example focal species Sialis lutaria. Finally, we discuss the applicability of ecological scenarios in ERA and propose research needs and recommendations for their development and integration with exposure scenarios. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016;12:510-521. © 2015 SETAC.

[1]  P. Williams,et al.  The freshwater biota of British agricultural landscapes and their sensitivity to pesticides , 2007 .

[2]  Thomas G. Preuss,et al.  A list of fish species that are potentially exposed to pesticides in edge-of-field water bodies in the European Union—a first step towards identifying vulnerable representatives for risk assessment , 2013, Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

[3]  Roman Ashauer,et al.  Modeling the contribution of toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic processes to the recovery of Gammarus pulex populations after exposure to pesticides , 2014, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[4]  Roman Ashauer,et al.  Framework for traits‐based assessment in ecotoxicology , 2011, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[5]  Theo P Traas,et al.  A freshwater food web model for the combined effects of nutrients and insecticide stress and subsequent recovery , 2004, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[6]  P. Leeuwangh,et al.  An Evaluation of Four Types of Freshwater Model Ecosystem for Assessing the Hazard of Pesticides , 1994, Human & experimental toxicology.

[7]  Colin R. Janssen,et al.  Functional redundancy and food web functioning in linuron-exposed ecosystems. , 2011, Environmental pollution.

[8]  M. P. Brooker,et al.  The life cycle and growth of Sialis lutaria L. (Megaloptera) in a drainage channel under different methods of plant management , 1979 .

[9]  Udo Hommen,et al.  Recovery based on plot experiments is a poor predictor of landscape‐level population impacts of agricultural pesticides , 2014, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[10]  D. Sear,et al.  Comparative biodiversity of rivers, streams, ditches and ponds in an agricultural landscape in Southern England , 2004 .

[11]  Andy Hart,et al.  Development of a framework based on an ecosystem services approach for deriving specific protection goals for environmental risk assessment of pesticides. , 2012, The Science of the total environment.

[12]  M. Liess,et al.  Analyzing effects of pesticides on invertebrate communities in streams , 2005, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[13]  P. J. Van den Brink,et al.  Potential application of population models in the European ecological risk assessment of chemicals II: Review of models and their potential to address environmental protection aims , 2010, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[14]  Roman Ashauer,et al.  Crucial role of mechanisms and modes of toxic action for understanding tissue residue toxicity and internal effect concentrations of organic chemicals , 2011, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[15]  Marco Vighi,et al.  SCCP (Scientific Committee on Consumer Products) / SCHER (Scientific Committee on Health& Environment Risks) / SCENIHR (Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly- Identified Health Risks) opinion on: Risk assessment methodologies and approaches for genotoxic and carcinogenic substances , 2009 .

[16]  Antonio Di Guardo,et al.  Challenges for exposure prediction in ecological risk assessment , 2013, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[17]  N. LeRoy Poff,et al.  Functional trait niches of North American lotic insects: traits-based ecological applications in light of phylogenetic relationships , 2006, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[18]  Ettore Capri,et al.  Guidance on tiered risk assessment for plant protection products for aquatic organisms in edge-of-field surface waters , 2013 .

[19]  Theo C M Brock,et al.  Macroinvertebrate responses to insecticide application between sprayed and adjacent nonsprayed ditch sections of different sizes , 2010, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[20]  Roman Ashauer,et al.  Toxicokinetic–toxicodynamic modelling in an individual based context—Consequences of parameter variability , 2010 .

[21]  Paul J van den Brink,et al.  Ecological impact in ditch mesocosms of simulated spray drift from a crop protection program for potatoes. , 2006, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[22]  Thomas G. Preuss,et al.  A contribution to the identification of representative vulnerable fish species for pesticide risk assessment in Europe—A comparison of population resilience using matrix models , 2014 .

[23]  Paul J Van den Brink,et al.  Evaluating aquatic invertebrate vulnerability to insecticides based on intrinsic sensitivity, biological traits, and toxic mode of action , 2015, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[24]  Geerten M. Hengeveld,et al.  Persistence of Aquatic Insects across Managed Landscapes: Effects of Landscape Permeability on Re-Colonization and Population Recovery , 2013, PloS one.

[25]  Theo C M Brock,et al.  Effects of lambda‐cyhalothrln in two ditch microcosm systems of different trophic status , 2005, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[26]  Paul J. Van den Brink,et al.  Ecological risk assessment: from book-keeping to chemical stress ecology. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[27]  P. Mineau,et al.  Estimation of chemical toxicity to wildlife species using interspecies correlation models. , 2007, Environmental science & technology.

[28]  Peter Odderskær,et al.  ALMaSS, an agent-based model for animals in temperate European landscapes , 2003 .

[29]  Andreas Focks,et al.  A simulation study on effects of exposure to a combination of pesticides used in an orchard and tuber crop on the recovery time of a vulnerable aquatic invertebrate , 2014, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[30]  Jerald B. Johnson,et al.  Model selection in ecology and evolution. , 2004, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[31]  P. Chapman.  Integrating toxicology and ecology: putting the "eco" into ecotoxicology. , 2002, Marine pollution bulletin.

[32]  Andreas Focks,et al.  Integrating chemical fate and population-level effect models for pesticides at landscape scale: New options for risk assessment , 2014 .

[33]  Paul J Van den Brink,et al.  Effects of intra- and interspecific competition on the sensitivity of aquatic macroinvertebrates to carbendazim. , 2015, Ecotoxicology and environmental safety.

[34]  Fabrice G Renaud,et al.  Simulating pesticides in ditches to assess ecological risk (SPIDER): I. Model description. , 2008, The Science of the total environment.

[35]  Andrew Hull,et al.  Biological traits of European pond macroinvertebrates , 2012, Hydrobiologia.

[36]  Matthias Liess,et al.  Landscape parameters driving aquatic pesticide exposure and effects. , 2014, Environmental pollution.

[37]  A. Di Guardo,et al.  Theoretically exploring direct and indirect chemical effects across ecological and exposure scenarios using mechanistic fate and effects modelling. , 2015, Environment international.

[38]  V E Forbes,et al.  Conceptual model for improving the link between exposure and effects in the aquatic risk assessment of pesticides. , 2007, Ecotoxicology and environmental safety.

[39]  Paul J van den Brink,et al.  Simulating population recovery of an aquatic isopod: Effects of timing of stress and landscape structure. , 2012, Environmental pollution.

[40]  Donald J Baird,et al.  A new method for ranking mode‐specific sensitivity of freshwater arthropods to insecticides and its relationship to biological traits , 2010, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[41]  André Gergs,et al.  Identification of realistic worst case aquatic macroinvertebrate species for prospective risk assessment using the trait concept , 2011, Environmental science and pollution research international.

[42]  Matthias Liess,et al.  Interspecific competition delays recovery of Daphnia spp. populations from pesticide stress , 2012, Ecotoxicology.

[43]  Minze Leistra,et al.  Fate of the insecticide lambda-cyhalothrin in ditch enclosures differing in vegetation density. , 2004, Pest management science.

[44]  V. Grimm,et al.  Ecological Models in Support of Regulatory Risk Assessments of Pesticides: Developing a Strategy for the Future , 2009, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[45]  Faten Gabsi,et al.  Modelling the impact of the environmental scenario on population recovery from chemical stress exposure: a case study using Daphnia magna. , 2014, Aquatic toxicology.

[46]  Colin R. Janssen,et al.  Species interactions and chemical stress: Combined effects of intraspecific and interspecific interactions and pyrene on Daphnia magna population dynamics , 2015, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[47]  R. Gylstra,et al.  Ecological Effects of Spring and Late Summer Applications of Lambda-Cyhalothrin on Freshwater Microcosms , 2006, Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology.

[48]  J. Cairns,et al.  Putting the eco in ecotoxicology. , 1988, Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology : RTP.

[49]  Theo C M Brock,et al.  Priorities to improve the ecological risk assessment and management for pesticides in surface water , 2013, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[50]  Steve J. Maund,et al.  Morphological and physico-chemical properties of British aquatic habitats potentially exposed to pesticides , 2006 .

[51]  Sovan Lek,et al.  Using phylogenetic information and chemical properties to predict species tolerances to pesticides , 2014, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[52]  Wayne G. Landis,et al.  Metapopulation dynamics: Indirect effects and multiple distinct outcomes in ecological risk assessment , 1998 .