Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.envpol.2014.03.002
Title (Primary) Do predictions from Species Sensitivity Distributions match with field data?
Author Smetanová, S.; Bláha, L.; Liess, M.; Schäfer, R.B.; Beketov, M.A.
Source Titel Environmental Pollution
Year 2014
Department OEKOTOX
Volume 189
Page From 126
Page To 133
Language englisch
Keywords Pollution; Risk assessment; Freshwater; Rivers; Statistical modelling
UFZ wide themes TERENO; RU3;
Abstract Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) is a statistical model that can be used to predict effects of contaminants on biological communities, but only few comparisons of this model with field studies have been conducted so far. In the present study we used measured pesticides concentrations from streams in Germany, France, and Finland, and we used SSD to calculate msPAF (multiple substance potentially affected fraction) values based on maximum toxic stress at localities. We compared these SSD-based predictions with the actual effects on stream invertebrates quantified by the SPEARpesticides bioindicator. The results show that the msPAFs correlated well with the bioindicator, however, the generally accepted SSD threshold msPAF of 0.05 (5% of species are predicted to be affected) severely underestimated the observed effects (msPAF values causing significant effects are 2–1000-times lower). These results demonstrate that validation with field data is required to define the appropriate thresholds for SSD predictions.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=14915
Smetanová, S., Bláha, L., Liess, M., Schäfer, R.B., Beketov, M.A. (2014):
Do predictions from Species Sensitivity Distributions match with field data?
Environ. Pollut. 189 , 126 - 133 10.1016/j.envpol.2014.03.002