Terrestrial biotic ligand model. 2. Application to Ni and Cu toxicities to plants, invertebrates, and microbes in soil.
The Terrestrial Biotic Ligand Model (TBLM) is applied to a number of noncalcareous soils of the European Union for Cu and Ni toxicities using organisms and endpoints representing three levels of terrestrial organisms: higher plants, invertebrates, and microbes. A comparison of the TBLM predictions to soil metal concentration or free metal ion activity in the soil solution shows that the TBLM is able to achieve a better normalization of the wide variation in toxicological endpoints among soils of disparate properties considered in this study. The TBLM predictions of the EC50s were generally within a factor of 2 of the observed values. To our knowledge, this is the first study that incorporates Cu and Ni toxicities to multiple endpoints associated with higher plants, invertebrates, and microbes for up to eleven noncalcareous soils of disparate properties, into a single theoretical framework. The results of this study clearly demonstrate that the TBLM can provide a general framework for modeling metals ecotoxicity in soils.
Thakali
Sagar
S
Center for the Study of Metals in the Environment, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
Allen
Herbert E
HE
Di Toro
Dominic M
DM
Ponizovsky
Alexander A
AA
Rooney
Corinne P
CP
Zhao
Fang-Jie
FJ
Mcgrath
Stephen P
SP
Criel
Peggy
P
Van Eeckhout
Hilde
H
Janssen
Colin R
CR
Oorts
Koen
K
Smolders
Erik
E
D000818:Animals; D003300:Copper / Q000633:toxicity*; D017753:Ecosystem; D001467:Hordeum; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D007448:Invertebrates; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009532:Nickel / Q000633:toxicity*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D010944:Plants; D012987:Soil; D012988:Soil Microbiology
D012987:Soil; D003300:Copper; D009532:Nickel