1st Edition

Multiple Stresses in Ecosystems

    224 Pages
    by CRC Press

    216 Pages
    by CRC Press

    Ecotoxicology is the evaluation of toxic effects within the environment, typically within one specific ecosystem, like a forest, stream, or lake. For years now, ecotoxicological studies have tended to focus on one toxicant at a time. But that isn't how an ecosystem encounters toxicants (or stresses): there may be several elements at work in the air, several more in the water, and still more already within the soil of any given ecosystem, and all have some level of toxic influence on that ecosystem. Multiple Stresses in Ecosystems presents the state-of-the-art in determining the effects of these multiple impacts upon ecosystems.

    Resulting from a vanguard conference originally held in 1993 at UC Davis, this new work is divided into three sections that present methodolgies for assessing the health of an ecosystem; the effects of multiple toxicological impacts upon an ecosystem, and which tools are worth using to assess these dangers. Environmental scientists, chemists, toxicologists, risk analysts, and probably the entire membership of SETAC will find need for this book, as will wetlands scientists, ecologists, and research biologists.

    Part I: Impact of Multiple Stresses on Ecosystems 1. Evaluation and Impact of Multiple Stressors on Ecosystems: Four Classic Case Histories 2. Extrapolation and Scaling in Ecotoxicology 3. A Framework for Evaluating Organism Responses to Multiple Stressors: Mechanisms of Effect and Importance of Modifying Ecological Factors 4. Forest Ecosystems and Air Pollution: The Importance of Multiple Stress Interactions on a Regional and Global Scale 5. Multiple Environmental Stresses on the Fragile Lake Tahoe Ecosystem Part II: Establishing the Health of Ecosystems 6. Ecosystem Health: Some Perspectives 7. Physiology and Ecological Health 8. Biomarkers: Are There Linkages to Ecological Effects? 9. Establishing the Health of Ecosystems 10. Establishing the Health of Ecosystems: The Role of Risk Assessment 11. Stressors in the Marine Environment 12. An Attempt to Explain Ecological Health with a Metaphor Part III: Future Methods in Ecotoxicology 13. Future Directions for Ecotoxicological Methods 14. Development and Application of Immunoassays for Biological and Environmental Monitoring 15. Using Surface Probe Localized 31P NMR Spectroscopy to Understand Sublethal Environmental Actions 16. The Use of Developing Organisms for Assessing Contamination in the Marine Environment

    Biography

    Cech, Jr.; Wilson, Barry W.; Crosby, Donald G.