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Competition matters: Species interactions prolong the long‐term effects of pulsed toxicant stress on populations
Author(s) -
Kattwinkel Mira,
Liess Matthias
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.2500
Subject(s) - toxicant , interspecific competition , competition (biology) , biology , storage effect , population , ecology , reproduction , chemistry , toxicity , demography , organic chemistry , sociology
Recent empirical studies have revealed the importance of species competition for the effects of toxicants on populations. In the present study, the authors applied a generic individual‐based simulation model of 2 competing species to analyze the consequences of interspecific competition for population dynamics under pulsed contamination. The results indicated that competition that causes a density‐dependent decrease in reproduction can substantially prolong the long‐term effects of the toxicant. In the example investigated, population recovery time increased from approximately 1 generation time without competition to more than 3 generation times under competition. In particular, species with low reproductive capacity exhibited a strongly prolonged recovery time when interspecific competition was included in the model. The authors conclude that toxicant concentrations derived from risk assessments for pesticides that do not consider competition might be under‐protective for populations in real‐world systems. The consideration of competition is especially relevant for species with low reproductive capacities to enable a realistic estimation of recovery pace. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:1458–1465 . © 2013 SETAC