Dr. Brown has an international reputation as an ecotoxicologist and has been actively involved in the development of the current European regulatory requirements (91/414/EEC). He has 20 years experience in the research and development of plant protection products. Before joining Exponent, Dr. Brown managed a contract research facility specialising in the environmental effects of agrochemicals, and was responsible for the design, conduct, and interpretation of higher tier studies with soil fauna, aquatic mesocosms, honey bees, non-target arthropods, and avian radio-tracking studies. Dr. Brown has a great deal of experience of managing complex studies to meet regulatory requirements.
In 1989, Dr. Brown was a founder member of the Beneficial Arthropod Testing Group (BART), made up of industry and key contractors to rationalise regulatory testing of non-target arthropods. In the 1990’s, Dr. Brown was an active member of the working groups that developed and ring-tested methodology for many of the species currently used in pesticide testing. Dr. Brown was a member of the organising committee of the ESCORT 1 workshop on regulatory testing of pesticides and prepared the Hazard Quotient database (published in Campbell et al. 2000) that formed the basis of the ESCORT 2 workshop in Wageningen (2000). Current European regulatory requirements, with respect to non-target arthropods, are based on the output from this workshop. Dr. Brown was a member of the EU research project EUFRAM on probabilistic risk assessment and a member of the UK PSD project WEBFRAM 4, specifically looking at combining distributions of both toxicity and exposure to quantify risk.
Dr. Brown is an invited member of the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) WG on residues in invertebrates as food items for birds and mammals, and has provided expert advice and training for both agrochemical companies and regulatory authorities. Dr. Brown has recently joined the UK Environmental Panel that provides scientific advice to the Advisory Committee and to the Pesticides Safety Directorate on a range of issues relating to the Environmental Fate and Behaviour and the Ecotoxicology of pesticides.
Lawton JH, Shires SW. Effects of insecticides on invertebrate predators and their cereal aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) prey: Laboratory experiments. Environ Entomol 1983; 12:1747–1750.
Brown KC. Animals, plants and micro-organisms introduced to the British Isles. Department of Environment Report, PECD7/8/60, 1985.
Williamson, Brown KC. The analysis and modelling of British invasions. Phil Trans R Soc Lond 1986; B314:505–522.
Lawton JH, Brown KC. The population and community ecology of invading insects. Phil Trans R Soc Lond 1986; B314:607–617.
Brown KC. The design of experiments to assess the effects of pesticides on beneficial arthropods in orchards: replication versus plot size. In: Pesticides and Non-target Invertebrates. P. Jepson (ed), Intercept, Wimborne, Dorset, 1989.
Brown KC, Stephenson RR. The effects of pesticides on terrestrial non-target arthropods in broad-acre crops. Proceedings, British Crop Protection Council Conference, Brighton, 3:133–143, 1990.
Dutton R, Leonard P, Brown KC. Fenazaquin, a new selective acaricide for use in fruit crops. Med Fac Landbouw Univ Gent 1993; 58/2b 485–490.
Brown KC. Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) in the field: An ecotoxicologists perspective. In: Implementing International Good Practices. Dent N (ed), Interpharm, Buffalo Grove, IL, 1993.
Turner CR, Brown KC, Dutton R. Insecticide use in grassland: The effects of chlorpyrifos on epigeal arthropods. 5th International Congress of Entomology, York, UK, pp. 303–308, 1994.
Brown KC. The value of field studies with pesticides and non-target arthropods. Proceedings, British Crop Protection Council Conference, Brighton, Vol. 2, pp. 575–582, 1998.
Mead-Briggs M, Brown KC, Candolfi M, Coulson M, Klepka S, Kuhner C, Longley M, Maise S, McEndoe E, Miles M, Neumann C, Ufer A. Development and ring-testing of a standardized laboratory test for parasitic wasps, using the aphid specific parasitoid Aphidius rhopalosiphi. pp. 80–88. In: Ecotoxicology: Pesticides and Beneficial Organisms. Haskell PT, McEwan P (eds), Chapman & Hall, London, 1998.
Brown KC. Field studies with pesticides and non-target arthropods in orchards. pp. 139–147. In: Ecotoxicology: Pesticides and Beneficial Organisms. Haskell PT, McEwan P (eds), Chapman & Hall, London, 1998.
Campbell PJ, Brown KC, Harrison EG, Bakker F, Barrett KL, Candolfi M, Canez V, Dinter A, Lewis G, Mead-Briggs M, Miles M, Neumann P, Romijn K, Schmuck R, Shires S, Ufer A, Waltersdorfer A. A hazard quotient approach for assessing the risk to non-target arthropods from plant protection products under 91/414/EEC: Hazard quotient trigger value proposal and validation. J Pest Sci 2000; 73:117–124.
Blumel S, Aldershof S, Bakker F, Baier B, Boller E, Brown K, Candolfi M, Huber B, Louis F, Linder C, Muther C, Nienstadt K, Oberwalder C, Reber B, Schirra K, Ufer A, Vogt H. Guidance document to detect side effects of plant protection products on predatory mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae) under field conditions: Vineyards and orchards. In: Guidelines to evaluate side effects of plant protection products to non-target arthropods. IOBC, Gent 2000; 145–158.
Blumel S, Bakker FM, Baier B, Brown K, Candolfi MP, Gossman A, Grimm C, Jackel B, Nienstedt K, Schirra KJ, Ufer A, Waltersdorfer A. Laboratory residual contact test with the predatory mite Typhodromus pyri Scheuten (Acari: Phytoseiidae) for regulatory testing of plant protection products. In: Guidelines to evaluate side effects of plant protection products to non-target arthropods. IOBC Gent 2000; 121–144.
Mead-Briggs M, Brown KC, Candolfi M, Coulson M, Miles M, Moll M, Nienstedt K, Schuld M, Ufer A, McIndoe E. A laboratory test for evaluating the effects of plant protection products on the parasitic wasp Aphidius rhopalosiphi (DeStephani-Perez) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). In: Guidelines to evaluate side effects of plant protection products to non-target arthropods. IOBC Gent 2000; 13–26.
Vogt H, Bigler F, Brown K, Candolfi MP, Kemmeter F, Kuhner C, Moll M, Travis A, Ufer A, Vinuela E, Waldburger M, Waltersdorfer A. Laboratory method to test side-effects of plant protection products on larvae of Chrysoperla carnea (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). In: Guidelines to evaluate side effects of plant protection products to non-target arthropods. IOBC Gent 2000; 27–44.
Heimbach U, Dohmen P, Barrett KL, Brown K, Kennedy PJ, Kleiner R, Rombke J, Schmitzer S, Schmuck R, Ufer A, Wilhemy H. A method for testing effects of plant protection products on the carabid beetle Poecilus cupreus (Coleoptera: Carabidae) under laboratory and semi-field conditions. In: Guidelines to evaluate side effects of plant protection products to non-target arthropods. IOBC Gent 2000; 87–106.
Grimm C, Schmidli H, Bakker F, Brown K, Campbell P, Candolfi M, Chapman P, Harrison EG, Mead-Briggs M, Schmuck R, Ufer A. Use of standard toxicity tests with Typhlodromus pyri and Aphidius rhopalosiphi to establish a dose response relationship. J Pest Sci 2001; 74:72–84.
Helyer N, Brown K, Cattlin N. A Colour Handbook of Biological Control in Crop Protection. Manson, London, 2003.
Brown, K, Miles, M. How much precision does a regulatory field study need? IOBC/wprs Bulletin 2006; 29(10):43–52.