New Approaches to Predicting Ecological Risks Presented by Chemicals

8 NEW APPROACHES TO PREDICTING ECOLOGICAL RISKS PRESENTED BY CHEMICALS 

The more difficult thing is to develop models that can, with reasonable confidence, be used to predict ecological effects. A detailed discussion of ecological approaches to risk assessment lies outside the scope of the present text. For further information, readers are referred to Suter (1993) Landis, Moore, and Norton (1998) and Peakall and Fairbrother (1998). One important question, already touched upon in this account, is to what extent biomarker assays can contribute to the risk assessment of environmental chemicals. The possible use of biomarkers for the assessment of chronic pollution and in regulatory toxicology is discussed by Handy, Galloway, and Depledge (2003). 

Another issue is the development and refinement of the testing protocols used in mesocosms. Mesocosms could have a more important role in environmental risk assessment if the data coming from them could be better interpreted. The use of biomarker assays to establish toxic effects and, where necessary, relate them to effects produced by chemicals in the field, might be a way forward. The issues raised in this section will be returned to in Chapter 17, after consideration of the individual examples given in Part 2. 

Organic Pollutants An Ecotoxicological Perspective, Second Edition 

In the field, effects of chemicals upon individuals may be measured by the use of mechanistic biomarkers. This approach has recently been strengthened by new technologies arising in the field of genomics. Free-living or deployed organisms may be sampled in order to measure responses to environmental chemicals. 

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