Figure 4.

Comparative view on the sensitivity to several environmental contaminants of C. elegans and that by two standard organisms used in ecotoxicological test batteries within environmental risk assessment frameworks, Eisenia fetida and Daphnia magna, representing soil and aquatic ecosystems, respectively. At the top panel, comparison of (A) acute EC₅₀ values (effect: lethality following 24 h exposure for C. elegans and 14 days for E. fetida), and (B) chronic EC₅₀ values (effects: reproduction following 7 days for C. elegans and 28 days for E. fetida. These effective concentrations were selected from laboratorial studies performed in soil (see tables S2 and S4; Boyd et al., 2010; Jonker et al., 2004b; Spurgeon et al., 1994; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ECOTOX database, 2018). At the lower panel, comparison of (C) 24 h-LC₅₀ and (D) 48 h-LC50 values found for exposures of C. elegans and D. magna to metals. These LC₅₀ values were selected from laboratorial studies performed in aqueous media (see tables S2 and S3; Altındag et al., 2008; Boyd and Williams, 2003a; Dhawan et al., 2000; Ferreira et al., 2008; Graves et al., 2005; Sorvari and Sillanpää, 1996; Wah Chu and Chow, 2002), and when several values were available for a given element, average between available values and corresponding standard deviation were used to obtain the plotted information.