Towards refined environmental scenarios for ecological risk assessment of down-the-drain chemicals in freshwater environments

Antonio Franco, Oliver Price, Stuart Marshall, Olivier Jolliet, Paul Van den Brink, Andreu Rico, Andreas Focks, Frédérik De Laender, Roman Ashauer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Current regulatory practice for chemical risk assessment suffers from the lack of realism in conventional frameworks. Despite significant advances in exposure and ecological effect modelling, the implementation of novel approaches as high tier options for prospective regulatory risk assessment remains limited, particularly among general chemicals such as down-the-drain ingredients. While reviewing the current state of art in environmental exposure and ecological effect modelling, we propose a scenario-based framework that enables a better integration of exposure and effect assessments in a tiered approach. Global- to catchment-scale spatially explicit exposure models can be used to identify areas of higher exposure and to generate ecologically relevant exposure information for input into effect models. Numerous examples of mechanistic ecological effect models demonstrate that it is technically feasible to extrapolate from individual-level effects to effects at higher levels of biological organisation and from laboratory to environmental conditions. However, the data required to parameterize effect models that can embrace the complexity of ecosystems are large and require a targeted approach. Experimental efforts should, therefore, focus on vulnerable species/traits and ecological conditions of relevance. We outline key research needs to address the challenges that currently hinder the practical application of advanced model-based approaches to risk assessment of down-the-drain chemicals.
Original languageEnglish
JournalIntegrated Environmental Assessment and Management
DOIs
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 2016

Keywords

  • Down-the-drain chemicals
  • ecological models
  • environmental scenario
  • ecological risk assessment
  • spatial models

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Towards refined environmental scenarios for ecological risk assessment of down-the-drain chemicals in freshwater environments'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this