A comparison of acute toxicity methodologies for Bombus spp.
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biodiversity, Entomology, Toxicology, Science Policy, Ecotoxicology
- Keywords
- Apis mellifera, Bombus spp., LC50, LD50, risk assessment, acute test, review
- Copyright
- © 2018 Mundy et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2018. A comparison of acute toxicity methodologies for Bombus spp. PeerJ Preprints 6:e27436v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27436v1
Abstract
Acute toxicity testing (lethal dose and lethal concentration for 50% of the population; LD50 and LC50) is a required component of the first level of pesticide risk assessment. A review of peer-reviewed and ECOTOX database toxicity values was conducted to assess methodology and toxicity value consistency. Bumble bee LD50 and LC50 tests varied in five key areas: test subject, active ingredient specifications, test solution specifications, test conditions, test procedure. Only recently has a consistent methodology for bumble bee LD50 tests been released, but differs substantially from previous methods. Study methodologies have varied in at least one component and comparison of acute toxicity values can differ substantially between studies. Although a current standard, the appropriateness of the contact LD50 method of anaesthetisation and test location should be revisited. This work demonstrates inconsistency in current peer-reviewed analysis of acute toxicity to bumble bees and that current standard methods may not be perfected.
Author Comment
This is a preprint submission to PeerJ Preprints.
Supplemental Information
Supplementary Table 1. Lethal Concentration endpoint studies
Top row of each column indicates a recorded component of the study, e.g. year, time assessed, etc. Some studies and/or chemicals may have multiple rows based upon the methodological criteria.
Supplementary Table 2. Lethal dose endpoints studies
Top row of each column indicates a recorded component of the study, e.g. year, time assessed, etc. Some studies and/or chemicals may have multiple rows based upon the methodological criteria.