Ecotoxicology:

• Risk assessments according to current EU guidelines and specific national requirements covering all groups of ecological relevant species:
  
  • Terrestrial vertebrates, aquatic / sediment dwelling organisms, bees, non-target arthropods, soil dwelling organisms and non-target terrestrial plants
    
    
• Deterministic approaches (TER, HQ) for standard and higher tier assessments:
  • Comparison of predicted exposure levels with endpoints from laboratory, extended laboratory, micro- and mesocosm and other semi-field and field tests
  • Generic refinements as agreed by the competent authority (national specific)
  • Refinements of exposure levels with regard to more realistic conditions and / or implementation of risk mitigation measures, choice of focal species (e.g. birds / mammal risk assessment), weight-of-evidence approaches on the relevance of endpoints, recolonisation / recovery of treated areas and affected species
  • Refinement of trigger values (e.g. reduction of uncertainty factors in view of higher tier data or an extended data base with lower tier endpoints)
    
    
• Probabilistic approaches, such as species sensitivity distribution (SSD-plots) and related probabilistic risk assessments
  
  
• Expert judgment on qualitative endpoints from field studies
  
  
• Assessment on the biological activity of metabolites
  
  
• At all stages of the risk assessments:
  • Evaluation and critical review of the existing data base
  • Identification (and monitoring) of appropriate studies