Dynamic effects of compounds on animal energetics and their population consequences

Kooijman, S. A. L. M. and Bedaux, J. J. M. 2000. Dynamic effects of compounds on animal energetics and their population consequences. In: Kammenga, J. E. and Laskowski, R. Demography in Ecotoxicology. Wiley, 27 - 41

Abstract

Effects of toxic compounds on populations can, under certain simplifying assumptions, be deduced from effects on individuals, and specifically from effects on the processes of substrate uptake and use by individuals. These effects can be understood in three steps: toxicokinetics (how external concentrations relate to internal ones), effects on target parameters (how internal concentrations change the value of on a target parameter), effects on endpoints (how a change in a target parameter relates to the endpoint of interest, such as reproduction rate or cumulative number of offspring in a standardised exposure period). Effects of toxicants occur at various levels of organisation. At the molecular level, all molecules have (potential) effects; at the level of the individual, No Effect Concentrations exist, and at the population level, effects can be varying, even if the concentrations in the organisms are constant.

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