Disentangling Mechanisms Behind Chronic Lethality through Toxicokinetic-Toxicodynamic Modelling.

Ecotoxicological profiles of the three insecticides imidacloprid, thiacloprid and flupyradifurone in terms of acute and chronic effects were analyzed in Chironomus riparius. Toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic modelling revealed that chironomids would die from starvation due to prolonged feeding inhibition under chronic exposures. The starvation effect is an indirect cause for mortality, which, for the neonicotinoids, adds to the direct/acute mortality, while the results suggests that this additional effect is not relevant for flupyradifurone. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.