Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan - U.S. Fish and Wildlife ...

Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge
Comprehensive Conservation Plan
of pesticide uses on the refuge were developed through research and established by the EPA (2004).
Assumptions for these risk assessments are presented in Section 6.2.3.
The toxicological data used in ecological risk assessments are typically results of standardized
laboratory studies provided by pesticide registrants to the EPA to meet regulatory requirements under
the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act of 1996 (FIFRA). These studies assess the
acute (lethality) and chronic (reproductive) effects associated with short- and long-term exposure to
pesticides on representative species of birds, mammals, freshwater fish, aquatic invertebrates, and
terrestrial and aquatic plants. Other effects data publicly available would also be utilized for risk
assessment protocols described herein. Toxicity endpoint and environmental fate data are available
from a variety of resources. Some of the more useful resources can be found in
Section 7.5.
Table 1. Ecotoxicity tests used to evaluate potential effects to birds, fish, and mammals to establish
toxicity endpoints for risk quotient calculations.
Species Group Exposure Measurement endpoint
Acute Median Lethal Concentration (LC50)
Bird
Chronic
No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC) or
No Observed Adverse Effect Concentration (NOAEC) 1
Acute Median Lethal Concentration (LC50)
Fish
Chronic
No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC) or
No Observed Adverse Effect Concentration (NOAEC) 2
Mammal
Acute
Chronic
Oral Lethal Dose (LD50)
No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC) or
No Observed Adverse Effect Concentration (NOAEC) 3
1
Measurement endpoints typically include a variety of reproductive parameters (e.g., number of
eggs, number of offspring, eggshell thickness, and number of cracked eggs).
2
Measurement endpoints for early life stage/life cycle typically include embryo hatch rates, time
to hatch, growth, and time to swim-up.
3
Measurement endpoints include maternal toxicity, teratogenic effects or developmental
anomalies, evidence of mutagenicity or genotoxicity, and interference with cellular mechanisms
such as DNA synthesis and DNA repair.
7.2 Determining Ecological Risk to Fish and Wildlife
The potential for pesticides used on the refuge to cause direct adverse effects to fish and wildlife
would be evaluated using EPA’s Ecological Risk Assessment Process (2004). This deterministic
approach, which is based upon a two-phase process involving estimation of environmental
concentrations and then characterization of risk, would be used for ecological risk assessments. This
method integrates exposure estimates (estimated environmental concentration (EEC) and
toxicological endpoints (e.g., LC50 and oral LD50)) to evaluate the potential for adverse effects to
species groups (birds, mammals, and fish) representative of legal mandates for managing units of the
Refuge System. This integration is achieved through risk quotients (RQs) calculated by dividing the
EEC by acute and chronic toxicity values selected from standardized toxicological endpoints or
published effect (Table 1).
G-16 Appendix G. Integrated Pest Management