The Role of Behavioral Ecotoxicology in Environmental Protection

For decades, we have known that chemicals affect human and wildlife behavior. Moreover, due to recent technological and computational advances, scientists are now increasingly aware that a wide variety of contaminants and other environmental stressors adversely affect organismal behavior and subsequent ecological outcomes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. There is also a groundswell of concern that regulatory ecotoxicology does not adequately consider behavior, primarily due to a lack of standardized toxicity methods. This has, in turn, led to the exclusion of many behavioral ecotoxicology studies from chemical risk assessments. To improve understanding of the challenges and opportunities for behavioral ecotoxicology within regulatory toxicology/risk assessment, a unique workshop with international representatives from the fields of behavioral ecology, ecotoxicology, regulatory (eco)toxicology, neurotoxicology, test standardization, and risk assessment resulted in the formation of consensus perspectives and recommendations, which promise to serve as a roadmap to advance interfaces among the basic and translational sciences, and regulatory practices.

Automated summary

Chemicals have long been acknowledged to impact human and wildlife behavior. Recent technological advancements have highlighted the adverse effects of contaminants on organismal behavior and ecological outcomes. Concerns about the lack of consideration of behavior in regulatory ecotoxicology have led to the exclusion of many studies from chemical risk assessments. A workshop with international representatives has resulted in consensus perspectives and recommendations to improve the integration of basic and translational sciences with regulatory practices.