Chương này sẽ xem xét các quá trình xác định độc tính của các chất ô nhiễm hữu cơ để các sinh vật sống. Độc tính "sẽ bao gồm các ảnh hưởng có hại nói chung và sẽ không bị hạn chế để gây chết. Với những tiến bộ nhanh chóng của cơ chế độc tố trong những năm gần đây, ngày càng có thể hiểu được trình tự cơ bản của những thay đổi dẫn đến sự xuất hiện của các triệu chứng của nhiễm độc, và làm thế nào sự khác biệt trong hoạt động của các quá. | 2 Factors Determining the Toxicity of Organic Pollutants to Animals and Plants INTRODUCTION This chapter will consider the processes that determine the toxicity of organic pollutants to living organisms. The term toxicity will encompass harmful effects in general and will not be restricted to lethality. With the rapid advances of mechanistic toxicology in recent years it is increasingly possible to understand the underlying sequence of changes that lead to the appearance of symptoms of intoxication and how differences in the operation of these processes between species strains sexes and age groups can account for selective toxicity. Thus in a text of this kind it is important to deal with these. Understanding why chemicals have toxic effects and why they are selective is of interest both scientifically and for more practical and commercial reasons. An understanding of mechanism can provide the basis for the development of new biomarker assays the design of more effective and more environmentally friendly pesticides and the development of new chemicals and strategies to control resistant pests. Although many of the standard ecotoxicity tests use lethality as the endpoint it is now widely recognized that sublethal effects may be at least as important as lethal ones in ecotoxicology. Pollutants that affect reproductive success can cause populations to decline. The persistent DDT metabolite p p -DDE caused the decline of certain predatory birds in North America through eggshell thinning and consequent reduction in breeding success see Chapter 5 . The antifouling agent tributyl tin TBT caused population decline in the dog whelk Nucella lapillus through making the females infertile see Chapter 8 . Neurotoxic compounds can have behavioral effects in the field see Chapters 5 9 and 15 and these may reduce the breeding or feeding success of animals and their ability to avoid predation. A number of the examples that follow are of sub-lethal effects of pollutants. The .
