English Abstract A species-by-compound matrix of acute toxicity values
was studied using principal component analysis. The data matrix contained
literature data from 26 aquatic species and 21 chemical compounds. The
purpose was to search patterns in the interspecific variation of toxicity.
Compounds could be ordered according to their toxicity in an unambiguous
way. The ordering explained about 80% of the among-compounds variation in
toxicity. The compounds with the highest overall toxicity also had the
largest variation in toxicity for different species. The toxicity of
non-polar narcotics correlated well with the log Kow. More toxic than
predicted by the log Kow were: allylamine, dieldrin, malathion, parathion
and salicylaldehyde. The patterns in the sensitivity of the species were
less unambiguous. A three components model of the species-by-compounds
matrix explained about 56% of the among-species variation in sensitivity.
Fishes and amphibians were more sensitive to dieldrin, lindane and
pentachlorophenol than the invertebrates. The Phyllopoda (daphnids) were
the most sensitive species to aniline, the heavy metals, malathion and
parathion.
