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Sensitivity of animals to chemical compounds links to metabolic rate

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Abstract

Ecotoxicological studies have shown considerable variation in species sensitivity for chemical compounds, but general patterns in sensitivity are still not known. A better understanding of this sensitivity is important in the context of environmental risk assessment but also in a more general ecological and evolutionary one. We investigated the metabolic rate or more precise the specific somatic maintenance (expressed in J cm−3 d−1, at a standardised body temperature of 20 °C) on the sensitivity of a species to chemical poisoning. The sensitivity of a species was expressed in terms of its threshold concentration for survival, the no effect concentrations (NEC, in µmol/L). Somatic maintenance data were based on the ‘add-my-pet’ database hosted by the VU University of Amsterdam. NECs were derived from the US-EPA ECOTOX database. We focussed on four pesticides; two that need a metabolic activation, Chlorpyrifos and Malathion, and two without metabolic activation, carbofuran and carbaryl. All four pesticides showed a similar response: a strong negative correlation between the specific somatic maintenance and the NEC. We discuss possible explanations, deviations and ecological implications.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the European Union Marie Curie Actions - Research Fellowship Programme 2012 (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF), project acronym BIOME, contract no. 328931.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Ecology and Hydrology, MacLean Building Benson Lane, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK

    Jan Baas

  2. Department Theoretical Biology, VU University, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Sebastiaan A. L. M. Kooijman

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  1. Jan Baas
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  2. Sebastiaan A. L. M. Kooijman
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Correspondence to Jan Baas.

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Baas, J., Kooijman, S.A.L.M. Sensitivity of animals to chemical compounds links to metabolic rate. Ecotoxicology 24, 657–663 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1413-5

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