Mechanistic effect modeling of earthworms in the context of pesticide risk assessment: synthesis of the FORESEE Workshop

Valery Forbes, Annika Agatz, Roman Ashauer, Kevin Butt, Yvan Capowiez, Sabine Duquesne, Gregor Ernst, Andreas Focks, Andre Gergs, Mark Edward Hodson, Martin Holmstrup, Alice Johnston, Matia Meli, Dirk Nickisch, Sylvia Pieper, Kim Rakel, Melissa Read, Joerg Roembke, Ralf Schafer, Pernille ThorbekD Spurgeon, Erik Van Den Berg, Cornelis A M van Gestel, Mathilde Zorn, Vanessa Roeben

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Earthworms are important ecosystem engineers, and assessment of the risk of plant protection products towards them is part of the European environmental risk assessment (ERA). In the current RA scheme, exposure and effects are represented simplistically and are not well integrated, resulting in uncertainty when applying the results to ecosystems. Modeling offers a powerful tool to integrate the effects observed in lower tier laboratory studies with the environmental conditions under which exposure is expected in the field. This paper provides a summary of the FORESEE Workshop ((In)Field Organism Risk modEling by coupling Soil Exposure and Effect) held January 28-30, 2020 in Düsseldorf, Germany. This workshop focussed on toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TKTD) and population modeling of earthworms in the context of environmental risk assessment. The goal was to bring together scientists from different stakeholder groups to discuss the current state of soil invertebrate modeling, explore how earthworm modeling could be applied to risk assessments, and in particular how the different model outputs can be used in the tiered RA approach. In support of these goals, the workshop aimed at addressing the requirements and concerns of the different stakeholder groups to support further model development. The modeling approach included four submodules to cover the most relevant processes for earthworm risk assessment: Environment, Behavior (feeding, vertical movement), TKTD, and Population. Four workgroups examined different aspects of the model with relevance for: Risk assessment, earthworm ecology, uptake routes, and extrapolation and validation. Here, we present the perspectives of each workgroup and highlight how the collaborative effort of participants from multidisciplinary backgrounds helped to establish common ground. In addition, we provide a list of recommendations for how earthworm TKTD modeling could address some of the uncertainties in current risk assessments for plant protection products
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)352-363
Number of pages12
JournalIntegrated Environmental Assessment and Management
Volume17
Issue number2
Early online date10 Sept 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Feb 2021

Bibliographical note

© 2020 SETAC. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

Keywords

  • earthworms
  • risk assessment
  • modelling
  • Ecotoxicology

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