Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rapid Tests for Community-Level Risk Assessments in Ecotoxicology

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Aquatic Ecotoxicology

Synonyms

Screening tests; range-finding tests

Glossary

Accuracy:

The closeness of an estimate of a parameter to the real value of this parameter.

Precision:

The repeatability of an estimate of a parameter.

Up-down test:

Single-species toxicity test where individual organisms are sequentially exposed (in contrast to concurrently exposed in conventional toxicity tests). The results of individuals exposed previously are used to select exposure concentrations in subsequent tests (with new individuals). This results in the exposure concentration to move up and down between the sequential exposure of individual test organisms.

Abbreviations

LC50:

Lethal concentration for 50% of a test population

SPEAR:

SPEcies At Risk

SSD:

Species sensitivity distributions

Definition

Rapid tests are toxicity tests which are designed to determine the approximate sensitivity of a range of species sampled from specific communities of interest.

Rapid tests obtain approximate estimates of the sensitivity of many...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 649.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 549.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Baird DJ, Barber I, Bradley M et al (1989) The Daphnia bioassay: a critique. Hydrobiologia 188(189):403–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beketov MA, Liess M (2008) An indicator for effects of organic toxicants on lotic invertebrate communities: independence of confounding environmental factors over an extensive river continuum. Environ Pollut 156:980–987

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dunlop JE, Horrigan N, McGregor G et al (2008) Effect of spatial variation on macroinvertebrate salinity tolerance in Eastern Australia: implications for derivation of ecosystem protection trigger values. Environ Pollut 151:621–630

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dwyer FJ, Burch SA, Ingersoll CG et al (1992) Toxicity of trace element and salinity mixtures to striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and Daphnia magna. Environ Toxicol Chem 11:513–520

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ellingsen KE, Gray JS (2002) Spatial patterns of benthic diversity: is there a latitudinal gradient along the Norwegian continental shelf? J Anim Ecol 71:373–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forbes VE, Calow P (2002) Species sensitivity distributions revisited: a critical appraisal. Hum Ecol Risk Assess 8:473–492

    Google Scholar 

  • Grist EPM, O’Hagan A, Crane M et al (2006) Bayesian and time-independent species sensitivity distributions for risk assessment of chemicals. Environ Sci Technol 40:395–401

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hickey GL, Kefford BJ, Dunlop JE et al (2008) Making species salinity sensitivity distributions reflective of naturally occurring communities: using rapid testing and Bayesian statistics. Environ Toxicol Chem 27:2403–2411

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kefford BJ, Papas PJ, Nugegoda D (2003) Relative salinity tolerance of macroinvertebrates from the Barwon River, Victoria, Australia. Mar Freshw Res 54:755–765

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kefford BJ, Palmer CG, Jooste S et al (2005a) What is it meant by ‘95% of species’? An argument for the inclusion of rapid tolerance testing. Hum Ecol Risk Assess 11:1025–1046

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kefford BJ, Palmer CG, Nugegoda D (2005b) Relative salinity tolerance of freshwater macroinvertebrates, from the south-east of the Eastern Cape, South Africa compared to the Barwon Catchment, Victoria, Australia. Mar Freshw Res 56:163–171

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kefford BJ, Nugegoda D, Metzeling L et al (2006) Validating species sensitivity distributions using salinity tolerance of riverine macroinvertebrates in the southern Murray-Darling Basin (Victoria, Australia). Can J Fish Aquat Sci 63:1865–1877

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leung KMY, Bjorgesaeter A, Gray JS et al (2005) Deriving sediment quality guidelines from field -based species sensitivity distributions. Environ Sci Technol 39:5148–5156

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liess M, Von der Ohe PC (2005) Analyzing effects of pesticides on invertebrate communities in streams. Environ Toxicol Chem 24:954–965

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liess M, Schafer RB, Schriever CA (2008) The footprint of pesticide stress in communities – species traits reveal community effects of toxicants. Sci Total Environ 406:484–490

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Menezes S, Baird DJ, Soares AMVM (2010) Beyond taxonomy: a review of macroinvertebrate trait-based community descriptors as tools for freshwater biomonitoring. J Appl Ecol 47:711–719

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore DRL, Warren-Hicks W, Parkhurst BR et al (2000) Intra-and intertreatment variability in reference toxicant tests: implications for whole effluent toxicity testing programs. Environ Toxicol Chem 19:105–112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morton R, Warne MSJ, Correll RL (2008) Simultaneous prediction of toxicity of multiple chemicals to multiple species using multi-dimensional functional relationships. Environmetrics 19:765–784

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Piscart C, Usseglio-Polatera P, Moreteau J-C et al (2006) The role of salinity in the selection of biological traits of freshwater invertebrates. Arch Fur Hydrobiologia 166:185–198

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Posthuma L, Suter GW, Traas T (2001) Species sensitivity distributions in ecotoxicology. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schäfer RB, Kefford BJ, Metzeling L et al (2011) A trait database of stream invertebrates for the ecological risk assessment of single and combined effects of salinity and pesticides in South-East Australia. Sci Total Environ 409:2055–2063

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sunderam RM, Patra RW, Julli M et al (2004) Use of the up-and-down acute toxicity test procedure to generate LC50 data for fish. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 72:873–880

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Warne MSJ, Van Dam R (2008) NOEC and LOEC data should no longer be generated or used. Aust J Ecotoxicol 14:1–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Warren-Hicks WJ, Parkhurst BR, Moore DRL et al (2000) Assessment of whole effluent toxicity test variability: partitioning sources of variability. Environ Toxicol Chem 19:94–104

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Comments by Richard Lim, Ralf Schäfer, and Carolyn (Tally) Palmer improved the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Environmental Sustainability, School of the Environment, University of Technology Sydney, 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Ben J. Kefford

Authors
  1. Ben J. Kefford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ben J. Kefford .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux (LIEC), Université de Lorraine, Metz, France

    Jean-François Férard

  2. Aquatic Ecosystem Protection Research Division, Water Science and Technology Directorate, Environment Canada, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Christian Blaise

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Kefford, B.J. (2013). Rapid Tests for Community-Level Risk Assessments in Ecotoxicology. In: Férard, JF., Blaise, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Aquatic Ecotoxicology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5704-2_87

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation