Ecological models practical applications

Whenever appropriate, and in line with the probabilistic concept of risk, probability distributions are used in ecological risk assessment of mixtures. This applies to the assessment of exposure (e.g., the probabilistic application of multimedia fate models see Hertwich et al. 1999 Ragas et al. 1999 MacLeod et al. 2002), as well as to the assessment of effects, especially the SSD approach. Recent developments (both conceptually and practically) suggest that joint probability assessments (looking at exposure and effects distributions simultaneously) are applied more frequently. This relates to the refined questions being posed, but also to theory development (e.g., Aldenberg et al. 2002) and technical facilitation by software (e.g., Van Vlaardingen et al. 2004). 

In the last few decades one notices strong influence and fast expansion of applications of various nanomaterials for industry, medicine, and many other areas that affect the everyday life. Unfortunately, current advantages of such materials can be accompanied by their unexpected and dangerous effects in the near future. These effects can include various types of toxicity together with hazardous ecological impacts. Obviously, possible hazardous aspects of nanomaterials require studies that would reveal their characteristics and provide guidelines to facilitate their safe applications. Predictive models for nanomaterials can be useful for both theoretical and practical reasons. 

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