Toxicity of a mixture of dissimilarly acting substances to natural algal communities:: Predictive power and limitations of independent action and concentration addition

Predictive studies of chemical mixtures are typically based on experiments with single species. To study the applicability of the concepts of independent action (IA) and concentration addition (CA) on a multispecies level, the carbon fixation of natural algal communities under toxicant exposure was studied. The presented study focused on a mixture of six dissimilarly acting substances. Conceptual reasoning as well as empirical evidence from single-species tests suggest that IA is more appropriate for this type of mixture. Nonetheless, the potential of CA was also investigated, to assess whether this concept may be applicable as a reasonable worst case prediction of mixture toxicities also on a community level. IA predicted the experimental EC50 precisely. CA underestimated the EC50 by a factor of only 1.4, although the shape of the predicted concentration-response curve was clearly different from experimental data. Hence, it can be concluded that the applicability of the concepts is not restricted to the level of single species. However, some limitations of both concepts became apparent, when stimulating (hormesis-like) effects were observed for two of the mixture components. These effects were also seen in the experimental mixture toxicity data but cannot be adequately modeled by either concept.