Artificial Neural Network Modeling of the Environmental Fate and Ecotoxicity of Chemicals

Abstract

Both by definition and by scope, ecotoxicology is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary science combining the disciplines of chemistry, biochemistry, toxicology, and ecology. Modeling is also increasingly used by ecotoxicologists to better understand the effects and fate of chemicals in the different compartments of the biosphere and to simulate them in the frame of predictive hazard and risk assessment schemes. Ecotoxicology Modeling is a comprehensive and well-documented text providing a collection of computational methods to the ecotoxicologists primarily interested in the study of the adverse effects of chemicals, their mechanisms of action and/or their environmental fate and behavior. Avoiding mathematical jargon, the book presents numerous case studies to enable the reader to understand the interest but also the limitations of linear and nonlinear models in ecotoxicology. Written by an international team of scientists, Ecotoxicology Modeling is of primary interest to those whose research or professional activity is directly concerned with the development and application of models in ecotoxicology. It is also intended to provide the graduate and post-graduate students with a clear and accessible text covering the main types of modeling approaches used in environmental sciences.