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Basic Information
Table of Contents
Extracted from Fact Sheet (EPA-823-F06-015); October 2006
AQUATOX is a freshwater ecosystem simulation model that predicts the fate of various pollutants, such as nutrients and organic chemicals, and their effects on the ecosystem, including fish, invertebrates, and aquatic plants. AQUATOX is a valuable tool for ecologists, biologists, water quality modelers, and anyone who performs ecological risk assessments for aquatic ecosystems.
- Background
- About AQUATOX
- AQUATOX Applications
- About Release 2.2
- More information
- Print version of this fact sheet (PDF) (92 K, 2 pages)
Background
One of the biggest challenges to protecting or restoring our nation's waters is to adequately understand the relationships between the chemical and physical environment and the organisms that live there. Ecosystems are complex, with seasonal and annual variations and multiple interactions among species. The biological communities in many water bodies are impaired, but the causes of the impairment may not be obvious in the face of numerous environmental stressors. It is difficult to predict how the aquatic community will respond to changes in pollutants or environmental conditions with simple methods of analysis, especially if the methods address a single stressor at a time. A complex simulation model may be required.
About AQUATOX
AQUATOX is a PC-based ecosystem model that predicts the fate of nutrients and organic chemicals in water bodies as well as their direct and indirect effects on the resident organisms.
AQUATOX simulates the transfer of biomass and chemicals from one compartment of the ecosystem to another. It does this by simultaneously computing important chemical and biological processes over time. AQUATOX simulates multiple environmental stressors (including nutrients, organic loadings, toxic chemicals, and temperature) and their effects on the algal, macrophyte, invertebrate, and fish communities. AQUATOX can help identify and understand the cause and effect relationships between chemical water quality, the physical environment, and aquatic life. It can represent a variety of aquatic ecosystems, including vertically stratified lakes, reservoirs and ponds, and rivers and streams.
AQUATOX Applications
AQUATOX can be used to address a wide variety of issues requiring a better understanding of the processes relating the chemical and physical environment to the biological community. Possible applications of AQUATOX include:
- Developing numeric nutrient targets based on desired biological endpoints.
- Evaluating which of several stressors is causing observed biological impairment.
- Predicting effects of pesticides and other toxic substances on aquatic life.
- Evaluating potential ecosystem responses to invasive species.
- Determining effects of land use changes on aquatic life by using the linkage with BASINS.
- Estimating time to recovery of fish or invertebrate communities after reducing pollutant loads.
About Release 2.2
AQUATOX Release 2.2 includes several minor updates to Release 2.1.
More information
You can download AQUATOX and accompanying documentation. You can also get the CD and hard copy from the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) at 1-800-490-9198 or by email to ncepimal@one.net or from the Water Resources Center at 202-566-1729 or by sending an e-mail to center.water-resource@epa.gov. You may also contact Marjorie Coombs Wellman (wellman.marjorie@epa.gov) at 202-566-0407.