TY - JOUR
T1 - (Eco)toxicological tests for assessing impacts of chemical stress to aquatic ecosystems
T2 - Facts, challenges, and future
AU - Schuijt, Lara M.
AU - Peng, Feng Jiao
AU - van den Berg, Sanne J.P.
AU - Dingemans, Milou M.L.
AU - Van den Brink, Paul J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) domain TTW through the EMERCHE project: Effect-directed Monitoring tools to assess Ecological and human health Risks of CHemicals of Emerging concern in the water cycle (File number 15760 ). The project was also partially funded by a collaboration between the Dutch government and a consortia of watercompanies and NGOs through the Kennisimpuls Waterkwaliteit Toxiciteit project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors
PY - 2021/11/15
Y1 - 2021/11/15
N2 - Monitoring of chemicals in the aquatic environment by chemical analysis alone cannot completely assess and predict the effects of chemicals on aquatic species and ecosystems. This is primarily because of the increasing number of (unknown) chemical stressors and mixture effects present in the environment. In addition, the ability of ecological indices to identify underlying stressors causing negative ecological effects is limited. Therefore, additional complementary methods are needed that can address the biological effects in a direct manner and provide a link to chemical exposure, i.e. (eco)toxicological tests. (Eco)toxicological tests are defined as test systems that expose biological components (cells, individuals, populations, communities) to (environmental mixtures of) chemicals to register biological effects. These tests measure responses at the sub-organismal (biomarkers and in vitro bioassays), whole-organismal, population, or community level. We performed a literature search to obtain a state-of-the-art overview of ecotoxicological tests available for assessing impacts of chemicals to aquatic biota and to reveal datagaps. In total, we included 509 biomarkers, 207 in vitro bioassays, 422 tests measuring biological effects at the whole-organismal level, and 78 tests at the population- community- and ecosystem-level. Tests at the whole-organismal level and biomarkers were most abundant for invertebrates and fish, whilst in vitro bioassays are mostly based on mammalian cell lines. Tests at the community- and ecosystem-level were almost missing for organisms other than microorganisms and algae. In addition, we provide an overview of the various extrapolation challenges faced in using data from these tests and suggest some forward looking perspectives. Although extrapolating the measured responses to relevant protection goals remains challenging, the combination of ecotoxicological experiments and models is key for a more comprehensive assessment of the effects of chemical stressors to aquatic ecosystems.
AB - Monitoring of chemicals in the aquatic environment by chemical analysis alone cannot completely assess and predict the effects of chemicals on aquatic species and ecosystems. This is primarily because of the increasing number of (unknown) chemical stressors and mixture effects present in the environment. In addition, the ability of ecological indices to identify underlying stressors causing negative ecological effects is limited. Therefore, additional complementary methods are needed that can address the biological effects in a direct manner and provide a link to chemical exposure, i.e. (eco)toxicological tests. (Eco)toxicological tests are defined as test systems that expose biological components (cells, individuals, populations, communities) to (environmental mixtures of) chemicals to register biological effects. These tests measure responses at the sub-organismal (biomarkers and in vitro bioassays), whole-organismal, population, or community level. We performed a literature search to obtain a state-of-the-art overview of ecotoxicological tests available for assessing impacts of chemicals to aquatic biota and to reveal datagaps. In total, we included 509 biomarkers, 207 in vitro bioassays, 422 tests measuring biological effects at the whole-organismal level, and 78 tests at the population- community- and ecosystem-level. Tests at the whole-organismal level and biomarkers were most abundant for invertebrates and fish, whilst in vitro bioassays are mostly based on mammalian cell lines. Tests at the community- and ecosystem-level were almost missing for organisms other than microorganisms and algae. In addition, we provide an overview of the various extrapolation challenges faced in using data from these tests and suggest some forward looking perspectives. Although extrapolating the measured responses to relevant protection goals remains challenging, the combination of ecotoxicological experiments and models is key for a more comprehensive assessment of the effects of chemical stressors to aquatic ecosystems.
KW - Bioassays
KW - Biomarkers
KW - Ecological risk assessment
KW - Ecotoxicity tests
KW - Effect-based methods
KW - Extrapolation
KW - Monitoring
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109817292&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34328937
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148776
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148776
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34328937
AN - SCOPUS:85109817292
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 795
SP - 148776
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 148776
ER -