Relationship Between Response Parameter Hierarchies, Statistical Procedures, and Biological Judgment in the NOEL Determination

TL;DRAbstract

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended protocol for the fathead minnow life-cycle test specifies the measurement of numerous basic, but fragmentary, response parameters. Various researchers have recognized the need for combining those basic responses into global responses, which are more indicative of species survivability and ecological impact. One method of satisfying this need is to construct a hierarchy of responses. We illustrate a hierarchy of responses, currently being used in SRI experiments on munitions wastewaters, which consists of 31 basic responses (including new cumulative survivability responses) and 4 global responses. The use of a hierarchy of responses including global responses necessitates the development of statistical tests for these responses and highlights the problems associated with potentially large overall significance levels. The use of Dunnett's test for assessing the statistical significance of the global responses is recommended along with

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