Every year numerous tests are performed on aquatic invertebrates although there has never been any systematic research into the relation between their sensitivity to chemicals and their morphological, biological and ecological species traits. Because knowledge about this relation is so important in the assessing of environmental risks posed by chemicals, Dr. Paul van den Brink of Alterra now plans to begin researching the subject. For his research proposal he was recently presented with the prestigious CEFIC-SETAC Innovative Science Award, which includes a cash prize of € 100,000.
Paul van den Brink and his colleagues are going to develop a model that will predict the response of aquatic invertebrates to particular chemicals. Until now, ecotoxicological research has used mainly statistical methods to describe the variation in species' sensitivity to chemicals. This has shown that some species are indeed more sensitive than others but not why this is so. The research will focus entirely on this question.
To find the answer, van den Brink will investigate how these species' sensitivity is influenced by various morphological features, such as the gills used for respiration (which can allow chemicals to enter), the size of the species (ratio of surface to content, because this relates to the extent of exposure to chemicals), skin traits (a hard chitinous skin naturally offers better protection than a soft skin) and different enzyme systems (because some are more prone to chemical encroachment than others). Tests will be performed on several types of aquatic invertebrates, such as water fleas, mayflies, scuds and freshwater shrimps.
By the end of the project, van den Brink and his colleagues hope to have obtained a good understanding of the relation between the species traits of aquatic invertebrates and sensitivity to chemicals. In this way they hope to achieve an improved ecological risk assessment of chemicals (standards), a reduction in the number of tests performed on animals and a better diagnostic method for linking poorer water quality to a particular chemical stressor. Van den Brink: "Once we understand why some species are more sensitive than others to a particular chemical - in other words once we know precisely how the response mechanism works - we can predict which species will show relatively high sensitivity to that chemical. Then we can focus the risk assessment on those species and stop looking at the others. This also means we need less costly and less ethically-sensitive types of research, such as animal testing. Given the increasingly strict European rules, such as the EU Water Framework Directive and the new REACH legislation on chemicals, this is extremely important."
Note
Paul van den Brink is senior researcher for ecological risk assessment at Alterra and aquatic ecotoxicologist in the Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group of Wageningen University.
SETAC stands for the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. A prominent international forum promoting education and research for a sustainable environment, SETAC's membership consists of over 5,000 scientists active in fields of study that include chemistry, toxicology, biology, ecology and health. Every year SETAC and the European Chemistry Council (CEFIC) award a cash prize of € 100,000 for innovative research in the fields of toxicology and ecotoxicology. The winner of the 2006 CEFIC-SETAC prize is Paul van den Brink.