Modeling the concentration-response function of the herbicide dinoseb on Daphnia magna (survival time, reproduction) and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata (growth rate).

Models describing dose-response relationships are becoming increasingly popular in ecotoxicology. They allow simple and thorough evaluations of toxicity test results, including inter- and extrapolations to concentrations or exposure times other than those tested. Simple parametric regression models are of particular interest because their parameters may be attributed mechanistic meanings and they can be applied without sophisticated mathematical and computational support.

Effects of dinoseb on the life cycle of Daphnia magna: modeling survival time and a proposal for an alternative to the no-observed-effect concentration.

Risk assessment is in urgent need of more accurate toxic effect endpoints than those currently in use, especially for low concentrations. Often such endpoints are estimated by analysis of variance, linear interpolation, or smoothing. As these statistical methods are not always satisfactory, some authors have proposed to describe the entire dose-response curves by fully formalized parametric regression models whose parameters have toxicological meaning.