Empirical approaches to extrapolating among wildlife species
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
The balance between empirical and mechanistic approaches is a general problem in applied science. The choice of approach to any particular problem depends on the availability of information and theory. The current state of the science of wildlife toxicology is such that the best approach to taxonomic extrapolation is one that relies primarily on empirical relationships supported by higher level (i.e., gross) mechanistic assumptions. The simplest approach is species sensitivity distributions. These assume simply that variance among species is random. At a somewhat higher level, it may be assumed that the toxicity of a given dose is a function of some morphological or gross physiological characteristic (e.g., the mass of the organism in which the toxicant is diluted). A third possible assumption is that species that are more similar taxonomically will be more similar in their response toxicants. These and other assumptions about relationships among species can be used individually or in combination to generate models that provide estimates of effects on untested species and of the uncertainty in those estimates. Those extrapolation models, by analogy to structure-activity relationships, can be termed activity-activity relationships. Given the relatively poor base of information and theory available for development of more physiologically based mechanistic models, such empirical extrapolation models are likely to be the most useful tools for at least the next several years.
- OSTI ID:
- 212008
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9617%%324
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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