1st Edition

Biological Effects of Surfactants

By S.A. Ostroumov Copyright 2006
    300 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Understanding the role of aquatic biota and the impact of pollution and chemical substances that enter aquatic ecosystems is crucial to the assessment, prevention, and remediation of damaged environments. Biological Effects of Surfactants synthesizes the most important findings from hundreds of articles and the author's current experiments on the biological effects of synthetic surfactants and detergents on individual organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems. This book offers a new perspective of the hazards of pollution.

    The book draws upon concepts in hydrobiology, biogeochemical cycling, and the assimilative capacity of water-beyond the self-purification capabilities of bacteria and nutrient cycling-to examine the effects of anionic, non-ionic, and cationic surfactants as well as detergent mixtures on a wide range of organisms including bacteria, cyanobacteria, flagellates, algae, higher plants, and invertebrates. The author, a distinguished member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, establishes new quantitative characteristics of the effects and presents study results reflecting newly discovered phenomena. While proposing and substantiating new priorities and approaches for testing, assessing, and characterizing the biological activities and hazards of substances, he illustrates how the data obtained can be used to develop effective environmental remediation and protection measures to improve water quality.

    Biological Effects of Surfactants lays an excellent foundation for scientists to explore how hazardous wastes are absorbed in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, determine what is required for remediation and restoring water quality, and design the best approach to counteract the toxic effects of manmade surfactants using biological methods, including phytoremediation.

    Foreword by Professor M.E. Vinogradov, Member of Russian Academy of Sciences, and Professor V.D. Fedorov
    Foreword by Dr. Steven C. McCutcheon
    Acknowledgments
    Abbreviations
    Preface
    Introduction

    ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACTS AND SYNTHETIC SURFACTANTS AS POLLUTANTS OF AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
    Criteria and Priorities in Assessing the Hazardous Impacts on Aquatic Biota
    Ecological Hazard and Ecosystemic Consequences of the Effect of Anthropogenic Substances on Hydrobionts
    Biological Effects of Substances and the Need of Refining the Arsenal of Biotesting Methods
    Substantiating the Need for Further Research into Biological Effects of Synthetic Surfactants
    Ambiguity of Biological Effects Caused by Surfactants
    Pollution of Aquatic Ecosystems by Synthetic Surfactants
    Synthetic Surfactants and Self-Purification of Water Including its Filtration by Mollusks

    ORGANISMS AND METHODS
    Organisms: Substantiation of Choice and Aspects of Methods Used
    Chemical Substances Used

    BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF WATERS CONTAINING ANIONIC SURFACTANTS
    Biological Effects of Alkyl Sulfates. Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS)
    Biological Effects of Alkyl Benzene Sulfonates (ABS)
    Biological Effects of High-Polymer Synthetic Surfactants
    Concluding Remarks

    BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF WATERS CONTAINING NONIONOGENIC SURFACTANTS
    Biological effects of Nonionogenic Surfactants in a System With Bacteria
    Biological Effects of Nonionogenic Surfactants on Phytoplankton Organisms
    Biological Effects of Nonionogenic Surfactants on Higher Eukaryotes
    Biological Effects of Nonionogenic Surfactants and Their Hazards to Aquatic Ecosystems

    BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF WATERS CONTAINING CATIONIC SURFACTANTS
    Biological Effects of Ethonium
    Biological Effects of Tetradecyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (TDTMA)
    Biological Effects of Benzethonium Chloride
    Other Data on the Biological Activities of Cationic Surfactants

    BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF SURFACTANT-CONTAINING MIXTURES AND OTHER PREPARATIONS
    Impact of Aquatic Media with Surfactant-Containing Mixtures on Hydrobionts: Earlier Works
    New results on the Impact of Surfactant-Containing Mixtures on Autotrophic Organisms
    New results on the Impact of Surfactant-Containing Mixtures on Heterotrophic Organisms
    Assessment of the Biological Activities of Other Preparations and Samples
    Some Concluding Remarks

    BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF SYNTHETIC SURFACTANTS AND PARTICIPATION OF HYDROBIONTS IN WATER PURIFICATION
    Self-purification of Water and the Role of Hydrobionts in Aquatic Ecosystems
    Water Purification and Some Applied Problems
    Anthropogenic Impact on Hydrobionts: Assessment of the Ecological Hazards

    Generalizing Remarks
    Conclusions
    References
    Addendum
    Subject Index

    Biography

    S.A. Ostroumov