SREL Reprint #2096

Time-to-event analyses of ecotoxicity data

Michael C. Newman and John T. McCloskey 

University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina, USA

Abstract: Intensity and duration of exposure dictate the effect of a toxicant. Consequently, any assessment of ecological risk that does not include a sound understanding of both concentration and duration effects is compromised. This being the case, it is surprising that the predominant approach in ecotoxicology (concentration-effect modeling) inefficiently includes exposure duration. Ecological risk assessment can be enhanced with time-to-event models that can easily include concentration, exposure duration and other important covariates. Time-to-event methods are described and linkage made to relevant ecological techniques, i.e. life table analyses and genetic selection models.

Keywords: statistics; survival time; toxicity; ecological risk assessment

SREL Reprint # 2096

Newman, M.C. and J.T. McCloskey. 1996. Time-to-event analyses of ecotoxicity data. Ecotoxicology 5:187-196.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).