Cefic-lri Programme | European Chemical Industry Council

ECO50 – Incorporating spatial and seasonal variability in community sensitivity into chemical risk assessment (GETREAL)

Principal Investigator

Prof Dr Ralf B. Schäfer
Institute for Environmental Sciences
University of Koblenz-Landau
Fortstrasse 7
76829 Landau
Germany
Tel. +49 (0)6341 280-31536
schaefer-ralf@uni-landau.de

Collaborators

Prof Paul J. Van den Brink, Wageningen University, NL, paul.vandenbrink@wur.nl
Prof Martin Entling, University of Koblenz-Landau, GE, entling@uni-landau.de
Prof Frederik De Laender, Université de Namur, BE, frederik.delaender@unamur.be
Prof Lorraine Maltby, The University of Sheffield, UK, l.maltby@sheffield.ac.uk

 

Description

Chemicals are widely used in every sector of European societies and are regulated in different political frameworks with the aim to protect from unacceptable effects. Current chemical risk assessment with respect to chemical effects on non-target organisms largely follows a one-size-fits-all approach, focusing on sensitive single species tests or multispecies test systems.

However, real world species assemblages vary in their composition over space and time and so may their sensitivity towards a chemical. Depending on the variability in sensitivity, the use of a single effect threshold can result in over- and under protection. Hence, knowledge on this variability is pivotal for an efficient risk assessment.

GETREAL will provide this information on the variability in chemical sensitivity and explore its consequences for risk assessment.

Related Publications

Presentations:

Jonathan F. Jupke,  Ralf B. Schäfer. A unified typology for small European rivers. EGU2020: SHaring Geoscience Online, May 2020, online.

Posters:

Sanne van den Berg, Lara Schuijt, Pablo Rodriguez-Sanchez, Asmita Dubey, Oluwafemi Daniel Olusoij, Rima Osman, and Paul van den Brink. Antidepressant effects on Gammarus pulex behaviour, lab versus field testing. SETAC Europe SciCon 30th Annual Meeting, May 2020, online.

Timeline: April 2019 > March 2022

LRI funding: € 499 404

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