Biological Indicators of Freshwater Pollution and Environmental Management

ISBN-13: 9789401084178 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 546 str.

J. M. Hellawell

Opis

The preface of a book often provides a convenient place in which the author can tender his apologies for any inadequacies and affords him the facility to excuse himself by reminding the reader that his art is long but life, or at least the portion of it in which he has the opportunity for writing books, is short. I, too, am deeply conscious that I have undertaken a task which I could not hope to complete to my own satisfaction but I offer, in self- defence, the observation that, inadequate though it is, there is no other book extant, so far as I am aware, which provides the information contained herein within the covers of a single volume. Often during the last decade, in discharging my responsibilities for the environmental aspects of the water authority's operations and works, I should have been deeply grateful to have had access to a compendium such as this. The lack of a convenient source of data made me aware of the need which I have attempted to fill and in doing so I have drawn on my experiences of the kinds of problem which are presented to biologists in the water industry. The maxim 'half a loaf is better than none' seems particularly apt in this context.

Spis treści

1 Water and Man.- 1.1 Historical Setting.- 1.2 Management of the Water Cycle.- 2 Freshwater Ecosystems.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Classification of Organisms.- 2.3 Food Chains and Trophic Pyramids.- 2.4 Distribution of Species.- 2.5 Ecological Balance.- 2.6 Community Structure.- 2.7 Still and Flowing Waters.- 2.8 Biological Productivity.- 3 Biological Indicators.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Selection of Indicators.- 3.3 Individuals and Populations as Indicators.- 3.4 Community Structure as an Indicator.- 3.5 Functional Changes in Communities.- 3.6 Bioaccumulative Indicators.- 4 Environmental Stress.- 4.1 Natural environmental stresses.- 4.2 Imposed Environmental Stresses.- 4.3 Environmental Manipulation.- 4.4 Combined Stresses.- 5 Effects of Physical Disturbances.- 5.1 Effects of Suspended Solids.- 5.2 Effects of the Addition of Heat.- 5.3 Effects of Changes in pH.- 6 The Effects of Organic Enrichment.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 General Effects of Organic Discharges.- 6.3 Physical and Chemical Changes.- 6.4 Biological Changes.- 6.5 Field Studies of Organic Pollution.- 7 Effects of Toxic Materials.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Physiological Responses to Poisons.- 7.3 Terminology and Criteria.- 7.4 Factors Which Affect Toxicity.- 7.5 Predicting the Toxicity of Combinations of Poisons.- 7.6 Inorganic Poisons.- 7.7 Organic Poisons.- 7.8 Heavy Metals.- 7.9 Pesticides.- 7.10 Polychlorinated Biphenyls.- 8 Laboratory Evaluation of Pollutants.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Experimental and Laboratory Investigations.- 9 Field Assessments of Environmental Quality.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Sampling Methods.- 9.3 Sampling Strategies and Programmes.- 9.4 Biotic Indices and Data Analysis.- 10 Biological Surveillance in Environmental Management.- 10.1 Aquatic Resource Management.- 10.2 Basin Management Concepts.- 10.3 Application and Implementation of Uniform Standards.- 10.4 Environmental Impact Statements and Conservation.- 10.5 Future Developments.- Appendices.- 1 Trent Biotic Index.- 2 Chandler Biotic Score.- 3 Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) — Score.- ReferenceS.