Ecotoxicology: Problems and Approaches
Published on 13. December 1988
Book
Hardback
XIII, 547 pages
978-0-387-96762-2 (ISBN)
Description
Ecotoxicology is the science that seeks to predict the impacts of chemi cals upon ecosystems. This involves describing and predicting ecological changes ensuing from a variety of human activities that involve release of xenobiotic and other chemicals to the environment. A fundamental principle of ecotoxicology is embodied in the notion of change. Ecosystems themselves are constantly changing due to natural processes, and it is a challenge to distinguish the effects of anthropogenic activities against this background of fluctuations in the natural world. With the frustratingly large, diverse, and ever-emerging sphere of envi ronmental problems that ecotoxicology must address, the approaches to individual problems also must vary. In part, as a consequence, there is no established protocol for application of the science to environmental prob lem-solving. The conceptual and methodological bases for ecotoxicology are, how ever, in their infancy, and thus still growing with new experiences. In deed, the only robust generalization for research on different ecosystems and different chemical stresses seems to be a recognition of the necessity of an ecosystem perspective as focus for assessment. This ecosystem basis for ecotoxicology was the major theme of a previous pUblication by the Ecosystems Research Center at Cornell University, a special issue of Environmental Management (Levin et al. 1984). With that effort, we also recognized an additional necessity: there should be a continued develop ment of methods and expanded recognition of issues for ecotoxicology and for the associated endeavor of environmental management.
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Simon A. Levin | Mark A. Harwell | John R. Kelly
Ecotoxicology: Problems and Approaches
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Content
I Ecotoxicology: Problems and Approaches.- 1 Ecotoxicology: Problems and Approaches.- 2 Indicators of Ecosystem Response and Recovery.- 2.1 Stress, Ecosystem Response, and Recovery.- 2.2 A Focus on Useful Ecological Endpoints.- 2.3 Ecosystem Indicators.- 2.4 Conclusion.- II Responses of Ecosystems to Chemical Stress.- 3 Effects of Heavy Metals in a Polluted Aquatic Ecosystem.- 3.1 Approaches.- 3.2 Some Background on Metal-Polluted Foundry Cove.- 3.3 Effects of Heavy Metals on the Composition of the Macrobenthos.- 3.4 The Evolution of Resistance to Heavy Metals.- 3.5 Heavy Metal Accumulation and Detoxification in Resistant Biota.- 3.6 Conclusion.- 4 Determining the Ecological Effects of Oil Pollution in Marine Ecosystems.- 4.1 Acute Toxicity, the LD50 Approach.- 4.2 Ecosystem-Level Approaches.- 4.3 Effects of Oil Pollution on Benthic Communities.- 4.4 Effects of Oil Pollution on Planktonic Communities.- 4.5 Significance of the Observed Ecosystem Effects.- 4.6 Conclusions.- 5 The Effects of Chemical Stress on Aquatic Species Composition and Community Structure.- 5.1 Information Required for Effective Resource Management.- 5.2 Methodologies Used in the Study of Chemical Stress Effects.- 5.3 Early Studies of Community Composition and Structure as Indicators of Chemical Stress: The Historical Context.- 5.4 Structural Changes.- 5.5 Conclusions.- 6 Theoretical and Methodological Reasons for Variability in the Responses of Aquatic Ecosystem Processes to Chemical Stresses.- 6.1 The Global Significance of Ecosystem Processes and Chemical Stresses.- 6.2 The Detection of Ecosystem Responses to Stress.- 6.3 Terminology.- 6.4 Methodological Issues.- 6.5 Mechanistic Issues.- 6.6 Effects of Chemical Stress on Functional Networks.- 6.7 Chemical Stress Effects on Interactions Between Functional Networks.- 6.8 Indices of Ecosystem Health.- 6.9 Conclusions.- 7 The Effects of Chemicals on the Structure of Terrestrial Ecosystems: Mechanisms and Patterns of Change.- 7.1 Mechanisms of Chemical Exposure.- 7.2 Effects of Disturbance on Organisms.- 7.3 Consequences of Organism Injury to Alterations in Ecosystem Structure.- 7.4 Conclusions.- III Methods and Models.- 8 Models in Ecotoxicology: Methodological Aspects.- 8.1 Physical and Biological Scales.- 8.2 Aggregation, Simplification, and the Problem of Dimensionality.- 8.3 Equilibrium and Variability.- 9 Mathematical Models-Fate, Transport, and Food Chain.- 9.1 Components of Model.- 9.2 Transport, Salinity, and Solids Analyses.- 9.3 Organic Chemicals in the Water Column.- 9.4 Application to Kepone in the James River.- 9.5 Food Chain.- 9.6 Application to James River Striped Bass Food Chain.- 9.7 Conclusion.- 10 Deterministic and Statistical Models of Chemical Fate in Aquatic Systems.- 10.1 Theory.- 10.2 Steady-State Simplification.- 10.3 Deterministic Time Variable Models.- 10.4 Statistical Variation in Fish.- 10.5 Conclusions.- 11 Bioaccumulation of Hydrophobic Organic Pollutant Compounds.- 11.1 Physical-Chemical Considerations and Bioavailability.- 11.2 Biological Uptake, Retention, Metabolism, and Release.- 11.3 Bivalve Molluscs.- 11.4 Fish, Crustacea, and Polychaetes.- 11.5 Dietary Source of Organic Pollutants.- 11.6 Conclusion.- 12 Environmental Chemical Stress Effects Associated with Carbon and Phosphorus Biogeochemical Cycles.- 12.1 Carbon Cycle.- 12.2 Phosphorus Cycle.- 12.3 Simple Cycle Models.- 12.4 Analysis of Environmental Stresses in Carbon and Phosphorus Cycles.- 12.5 Stresses and Perturbations in the Carbon and Phosphorus Cycles.- 12.6 Sensitivity of Nutrient Flows to Biotic and Mineral Controls.- 12.7 Conclusion.- 13 Biomonitoring: Closing the Loop in the Environmental Sciences.- 13.1 Biomonitoring Programs for Ecosystems.- 13.2 Improving Biomonitoring Programs.- 13.3 Ecotoxicological and Biomonitoring Systems.- 14 The Role of Terrestrial Microcosms and Mesocosms in Ecotoxicologic Research.- 14.1 Historical Perspective.- 14.2 Microcosms as an Appropriate Technology.- 14.3 Mesocosms as an Appropriate Technology.- 14.4 Relationship to Mathematical Modeling.- 14.5 Ecotoxicological Applications of Microcosms and Mesocosms.- 14.6 Conclusions.- 14.7 Summary.- 15 The Role of Aquatic Microcosms in Ecotoxicologic Research as Illustrated by Large Marine Systems.- 15.1 Types of Microcosms.- 15.2 Applicability of Microcosm Results to Nature.- 15.3 Comparison of Microcosms with Other Experimental Approaches.- 15.4 Representative Results from Microcosms.- 15.5 Conclusion.- IV Ecotoxicological Decision Making.- 16 Ecotoxicology Beyond Sensitivity: A Case Study Involving "Unreasonableness" of Environmental Change.- 16.1 Potential Impacts on Seagrasses as an Ecotoxicological Case Study.- 16.2 Beyond Sensitivity: Raising the Acceptability Issue.- 16.3 Conclusion and Prospectus.- 17 Regulatory Framework for Ecotoxicology.- 17.1 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).- 17.2 Clean Water Act (CWA).- 17.3 Clean Air Act (CAA).- 17.4 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).- 17.5 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) or Superfund.- 17.6 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).- 17.7 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).- 18 Environmental Decision Making in the Presence of Uncertainty.- 18.1 Regulatory and Ecological Endpoints.- 18.2 Effects of Chemicals on Ecosystems.- 18.3 Sources of Ecological Uncertainties.- 18.4 Environmental Decision Making.