Demographic
Toxicity
Methods in Ecological Risk
Assessment
Edited By:
H. Resit
Akçakaya , John D. Stark and
Todd S. Bridges
Oxford
University Press (2008)
Demographic toxicity is the
ecological impact of a pollutant or toxicant on the population(s) of a plant or
animal species. Such toxicity is measured in terms of population-level
endpoints, such as risk of decline and population growth rate, rather than
individual-level endpoints. In recent years, use of these methods has become
increasingly popular in gauging the ecological consequences of various
chemicals. Yet despite a growing emphasis on the study of living populations,
there exist relatively few case studies or applications of models for such
assessments, leaving less experienced researchers with no real guidelines with
which to develop their own models.
This contributed volume offers
population and metapopulation models for a wide variety of species, focusing on
the use of models to evaluate the risks faced by these species due to a variety
of toxicants. Each chapter describes the application of a population model to
one species, with the aim of demonstrating how various life history
characteristics of that species are incorporated, how ecotoxicological impacts
are modeled, and how the results have been or can be used in risk assessment.
The accompanying CD-ROM includes
data files for each species modeled in the book, along with a demo version of
the RAMAS software used to create the models.
"Demographic Toxicity
provides a unique compilation of contributions to ecological risk assessment of
toxicants at the population level. It covers the most important model
approaches, both stochastic as well as deterministic, and puts these in the
context of real case studies. Written by experts, the clear chapters cover a
wealth of species and their respective habitats. Together with the enclosed
RAMAS GIS CD ROM, I recommend the book for students and scientists in
environmental or applied biological sciences as well as for environmental risk
assessors."
-- Jan Kammenga,
Wageningen University
"Conservation biology
has developed a range of rigid computer simulation approaches to analyze the
behavior of structured populations in heterogeneous environments. This book
will be a valuable reference for anyone wishing to incorporate ecological
realism in risk assessment of chemicals."
-- Nico M. van Straalen, Institute of Ecological Science, Vrije
Universiteit
Contents
- Demographic toxicity: Assessing the population-level impacts of
contaminants.
H. Resit Akçakaya and John D. Stark
- Lucilia sericata laboratory populations: Toxicant effects modified
by stage-specific density dependence and stochasticity.
S. Jannicke Moe,
Anja B. Kristoffersen, and Nils C. Stenseth
- Population-level modeling of mercury stress in the Florida panther
(Puma concolor coryi) metapopulation.
S. Raimondo and M.G.
Barron
- Raccoon (Procyon lotor) harvesting on and near the U.S.
Department of Energy's Savannah River site: Utility of metapopulation modeling
for prediction and management of hunter risk.
Karen F. Gaines and James M.
Novak
- Earthworms (Lumbricus rubellus) in northwestern Europe:
Sublethal effects of copper on population viability.
Chris Klok
- Stressor impacts on common loons in New Hampshire, USA: A
demonstration study for effects of stressors distributed across space.
Steven Walters, Anne Kuhn, Matthew C. Nicholson, Jane Copeland, Steven A. Rego,
and Diane E. Nacci
- Population-level effects of PCBs on wood frogs (Rana
sylvatica) breeding in vernal pools associated with the Housatonic River,
Pittsfield to Lenoxdale, Massachusetts.
W.T. Tucker, J.D. Litzgus, S.
Ferson, H.R. Akçakaya, M.E. Thompson, D.J. Fort, and J.P. Lortie
- Potential effects of freshwater and estuarine contaminant exposure
on lower Columbia River chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
populations.
Julann A. Spromberg and Lyndal L. Johnson
- Water flea Daphnia pulex: Population recovery after pesticide
exposure.
John D. Stark
- Lymnaea stagnalis: The effects of experimental demographic
reduction on population dynamics.
Marie-Agnès Coutellec, Thierry
Caquet, and Laurent Lagadic
- Pollution, stochasticity, and spatial heterogeneity in the dynamics
of an age-structured population of brown trout living in a river network.
A. Chaumot and S. Charles
- Using a spatial modeling approach to explore ecological factors
relevant to the persistence of an estuarine fish (Fundulus heteroclitus)
in a PCB-contaminated estuary.
D.E. Nacci, S. Walters, T. Gleason, and W.R.
Munns, Jr.
- Demographic effects of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
fluoranthene on two sibling species of the polychaete Capitella
capitata.
Annemette Palmqvist and Valery E. Forbes
- Application of population modeling to a causal analysis of the
decline the Cherry Point Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) stock.
Wayne G. Landis
- Endocrine disruption in eelpout (Zoarces viviparus) on the
Swedish Baltic coast: Population-level effects of male-biased broods.
Niklas Hanson
- Leptocheirus plumulosus in the upper Chesapeake Bay: Sediment
toxicity effects at the metapopulation level.
Todd S. Bridges, H. Resit
Akçakaya, and Barry Bunch
- Applications of life table response experiments to the evaluation of
toxicant effects at the population level with the polychaete Dinophilus
gyrociliatus.
R. Simonini, D. Prevedelli, and M. Mauri
- Appendix: Using RAMAS GIS