State-of-the-art: the use of Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta) as test and indicator organisms in standardized ecotoxicological tests

Abstract

Despite the fact that enchytraeids have been used in ecotoxicological studies for at least three decades, their use has been formalized in standardized guidelines only recently. When including some guideline proposals, all possible investigation levels (laboratory, semi-field (model ecosystems), and field) as well as several endpoints (acute and chronic toxicity, bioaccumulation, and composition of the enchytraeids community) are covered. In this contribution an overview about these activities is given, covering the testing of single chemicals (e.g. pesticides) as well as the assessment of contaminated land. Except lumbricid earthworins no other group of soil organisms is represented so well in terrestrial ecotoxicology.