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Earthworms are important ecosystem engineers, and assessment of the risk of plant protection products toward them is part of the European environmental risk assessment (ERA). In the current ERA scheme, exposure and effects are represented simplistically and are not well integrated, resulting in uncertainty when the results are applied to ecosystems. Modeling offers a powerful tool to integrate the effects observed in lower tier laboratory studies with the environmental conditions under which exposure is expected in the field. This paper provides a summary of the (In)Field Organism Risk modEling by coupling Soil Exposure and Effect (FORESEE) Workshop held 28-30 January 2020 in Düsseldorf, Germany. This workshop focused on toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TKTD) and population modeling of earthworms in the context of ERA. The goal was to bring together scientists from different stakeholder groups to discuss the current state of soil invertebrate modeling and to explore how earthworm modeling could be applied to risk assessments, in particular how the different model outputs can be used in the tiered ERA approach. In support of these goals, the workshop aimed at addressing the requirements and concerns of the different stakeholder groups to support further model development. The modeling approach included 4 submodules to cover the most relevant processes for earthworm risk assessment: environment, behavior (feeding, vertical movement), TKTD, and population. Four workgroups examined different aspects of the model with relevance for risk assessment, earthworm ecology, uptake routes, and cross-species extrapolation and model testing. Here, we present the perspectives of each workgroup and highlight how the collaborative effort of participants from multidisciplinary backgrounds helped to establish common ground. In addition, we provide a list of recommendations for how earthworm TKTD modeling could address some of the uncertainties in current risk assessments for plant protection products. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:352-363. © 2020 SETAC.

Flooding events often eradicate all of the individuals of the earthworm species Lumbricus rubellus living in river floodplains, although earthworm cocoons usually survive immersion, permitting populations to recover after the flood waters recede. Yet, if the area is flooded again before earthworms hatching from cocoons or migrating from adjacent areas reach reproductive maturity, it is unlikely that their populations will recover. The objective of this study is to determine the importance of the length of the dry period for population recovery in L. rubellus. Earthworms were collected at three floodplain sites along the Rhine River that were frequently, moderately or seldom flooded. Reproductively mature L. rubellus from the frequent flooded site were half the weight and probably younger than those from the other sites. A mechanistic population model was used to estimate the time for earthworm development from hatching to reproductive maturity, and to calculate the probability of population recovery after flooding. The model results show that the probability of extinction increases when the dry period is not long enough for individuals to reach reproductive maturity. When this condition is met population extinction is virtually absent resulting from the high lifetime reproductive output of L. rubellus. Parameterization of the model with site-specific data indicate that population survival on the site with the shortest dry period drastically decreases if worms mature at the weight measured at the other sites. The results therefore strongly suggest that the dry period is critical for population recovery in river floodplains and that earthworm populations have adapted to local (site-specific) conditions. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental quality criteria (EQC) for hydrophobic organic chemicals were calculated with a model for bioaccumulation in food webs. The model was calibrated and verified using polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations in food webs of shallow lakes. The EQCs in water and sediment were derived based on internal effect concentrations (IECs) for several modes of toxic action. By reverse calculation with the food web model for each organism in the web, a different water or sediment concentration is calculated corresponding to the IEC in each organism. A statistical procedure with an acute-to-chronic value is used to derive chronic EQCs based on bioaccumulation. The model-based chronic EQCs were compared with previously established EQCs. The EQCs calculated with the food web model generally are within an order of magnitude of the previously derived EQCs based on toxicity data on individual chemicals. Some previously derived EQCs are much lower than model predictions and usually based on small samples of toxicity data such as no-observed-effect concentrations (NOECs) with large assessment factors. When faced with data gaps, it is proposed to use model-based chronic EQCs for (polar) narcotic chemicals. Other modes of action require a different model concept to account for receptor-based toxicity.