Abstract
For decades, we have known that chemicals affect human and wildlife behavior. Moreover, due to recent technological and computational advances, scientists are now increasingly aware that a wide variety of contaminants and other environmental stressors adversely affect organismal behavior and subsequent ecological outcomes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. There is also a groundswell of concern that regulatory ecotoxicology does not adequately consider behavior, primarily due to a lack of standardized toxicity methods. This has, in turn, led to the exclusion of many behavioral ecotoxicology studies from chemical risk assessments. To improve understanding of the challenges and opportunities for behavioral ecotoxicology within regulatory toxicology/risk assessment, a unique workshop with international representatives from the fields of behavioral ecology, ecotoxicology, regulatory (eco)toxicology, neurotoxicology, test standardization, and risk assessment resulted in the formation of consensus perspectives and recommendations, which promise to serve as a roadmap to advance interfaces among the basic and translational sciences, and regulatory practices.
Highlights
Behavioral ecotoxicology is the study of behavioral responses to determine the potential effects of toxicants and other stressors on individuals, populations, and communities.[1]
Technological advances are allowing for the detection and quantification of subtle changes in the behaviors of animals and the increasing environmental occurrence of neuroactive compounds, which has led to growing concerns surrounding the disruption of wildlife behavior by chemical contaminants.[5,6]
We examined a key question: What should be the f uture role of behavioral ecotoxicology in environmental protection? we aimed to address whether there are methodological approaches that need to be improved/ developed and/or if regulatory authorities need more confidence in current approaches
Summary
Behavioral ecotoxicology is the study of behavioral responses to determine the potential effects of toxicants and other stressors on individuals, populations, and communities.[1]. In the 1990s, it was highlighted that the general public is largely unaware of the potential effects of toxicants on behavior.[10] despite recent studies suggesting growing public interest and understanding of environmental issues,[11] awareness that contaminants might be affecting wildlife and human behavior is still, despite decades of research, broadly lacking This reality exists despite well-known cases of behavioral toxicants leading to changes in legislation, such as the removal of lead from fuels,[12] limitations or prohibitions placed on alcohol consumption and the operation of motor vehicles.[13] The objectives of this paper are, to examine, through development of consensus perspectives, interfaces among behavioral ecology, ecotoxicology, and chemical risk assessment and to provide recommen-. Recent studies have linked chemical contaminants with effects on human behavior, cognition, and brain development.[27,28] For example, early exposure to many industrial chemicals has been identified as contributing to an increasing frequency of neurobehavioral disabilities in humans.[29,30] besides direct toxicity, the knowledge that contaminant levels are rising and can cause harmful effects on human health has itself been linked to increased psychological distress in the general population.[31]
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