Objective The ecological risks of plant protection products (pesticides) to ecological communities can be estimated using statistical distribution of the sensitivities of multiple species called SSD (species sensitivity distribution) to infer the concentration that will protect some percentage of species, often 95%. As currently used, SSDs are problematic because they are composed of small and non-random sample of species that do not reflect any known community. So SSDs will protect more or less than 95% of species by an unknown amount. The chief difficult for obtaining sensitivity data for more species and from sets of species that reflect specific communities is that the development of standardised tests with new species is relatively resource intensive.I have suggested that SSDs could more accurately predict the risk of chemicals to specific communities by obtaining approximate estimates of sensitivity of a wide range of species ‘sampled’ from a specific community using rapid tests. Rapid tests use field collected organisms with less replication and standardisation that is conventional in ecotoxicology. Effectively what is being suggested is trading reduced accuracy of the sensitivity of each species so as to be able to test more species from specific communities, which should result in more accurate assessments of the risks of pesticides to ecological communities. This project will determine what level of precision of estimates of species sensitivity is optimal for SSDs vs. replicate species and their representativeness of real ecological communities. This will determine how to best estimate the risk of pesticides to specific ecological communities. Fields of science medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagricultureagronomyplant protection Programme(s) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF - Marie Curie Action: "International Incoming Fellowships" Call for proposal FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MC-IIF - International Incoming Fellowships (IIF) Coordinator HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR UMWELTFORSCHUNG GMBH - UFZ EU contribution € 223 778,40 Address PERMOSERSTRASSE 15 04318 Leipzig Germany See on map Region Sachsen Leipzig Leipzig Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Annette Schmidt (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data
