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Content archived on 2024-06-18

Community level ecological risk assessments of pesticides: determining the optimal species level precision

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 (EuroSciVoc)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF
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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IIF - International Incoming Fellowships (IIF)

Coordinator

HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR UMWELTFORSCHUNG GMBH - UFZ
EU contribution
€ 223 778,40
Address
PERMOSERSTRASSE 15
04318 LEIPZIG
Germany

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Region
Sachsen Leipzig Leipzig
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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