Abstract
Toxicity to organisms is usually expressed in terms of an observable effect on individuals from which a summary endpoint (such as the NOEC or EC x ) is derived for risk assessment and environmental quality standards. However, toxicity evaluated in terms of a demographic endpoint may be more relevant to such regulatory applications. In this paper the effect of toxicity on population growth rate r is explored in tandem with a ‘double bootstrap’ to incorporate uncertainty. Exemplifying the approach with a set of individualized life table response data obtained for Daphnia magna exposed to zinc sulphate solution, the influence of increasing concentrations is assessed. A demographic-based metric for r, the E r C x (effect on r concentration percentage), is defined to permit alternative population level estimation of a ‘safe effect’ concentration.
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