Global Aquatic and Atmospheric Environment

ISBN-13: 9783642642432 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 393 str.

Har D. Kumar; Donat-P Hader

Opis

During the last few decades anthropogenic activities in the industrially advanced countries have outcompeted nature in changing the global environment. This is best illustrated for example by the polluted lakes in Scandinavia and Canada, associated with acid deposition from fossil fuel combustion. One of the major challenges mankind is confronted with in the field of energy consumption is undoubtedly to ensure sustainability - a goal that requires improved management of natural resources and a substantial reduction of the noxious emissions which are dangerous to health and the environment. The threat of global climate change due to pollutant emissions causes se rious concern to many nations, and reaching an international consensus is likely to take some time. Carbon dioxide emissions have slowed only marginally in industrialized countries during the last few years, but have increased significantly in most developing countries due to increases in energy demand and the increasing use of fossil fuels, which remain the most readily available energy sources today. Unfortunately, far from learning lessons from the negative experiences of developed countries, many developing countries are taking the same path to development which has turned out to result in serious environmental consequences."

Spis treści

1 Aquatic Ecosystems.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 River Ecosystems.- 1.2.1 Uses of River Water.- 1.2.2 The River as a Biological Environment.- 1.2.3 Stream Organisms.- 1.2.4 Gravel-Bed River Mouths.- 1.2.5 The Flood Pulse Concept.- 1.2.6 The Riverine Productivity Model (RPM).- 1.3 Freshwater Resources and Water Quality.- 1.3.1 Major Rivers of East Asia.- 1.4 World Water Use.- 1.4.1 Impacts of Mismanagement and Pollution.- 1.5 Nature of the Chemical Environment.- 1.5.1 Input of Organic Matter from Terrestrial Ecosystems.- 1.5.2 Aquatic Humus.- 1.6 Quantitative Pollutants.- 1.6.1 Pesticides.- 1.6.2 Mercury.- 1.6.3 Thermal Pollution.- 1.6.4 Metals.- 1.7 Global Change and Freshwater Ecosystems.- 1.8 Hydrological Cycle and Climate.- 1.8.1 Atmospheric Circulation.- 1.9 Groundwater.- 1.9.1 Isotope Hydrology and Water Resources.- 1.9.2 Biodiversity.- 1.9.3 Pollution.- 1.10 Population Increase and Water Management.- 1.11 Water and the Environment.- 1.12 Freshwater Augmentation Technologies.- 1.13 Water and Development.- 1.14 Health and the Water Cycle.- 1.15 Toxicity Testing in the Aquatic Environment.- 1.15.1 Assessing Toxicity.- 1.16 Biological Toxicity Testing Versus Environmental Monitoring of Impacts.- 1.16.1 Toxicity Test Species.- 1.17 Diseases Associated with Water and Poverty.- 1.18 Restoration of Water Quality in Some Rivers.- 1.18.1 Diffuse sources.- 1.19 Rural Water Treatment for Developing Countries.- 1.19.1 Roughing Filters.- References.- 2 Lakes and Wetlands.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Trophic State.- 2.3 Interactions Between Physical and Chemical Processes.- 2.4 UV-B Effects.- 2.5 Seiching.- 2.5.1 Importance of Seiches.- 2.5.2 Circulation Patterns.- 2.6 Regional Lake Quality Patterns.- 2.6.1 Ecoregions.- 2.7 Inland Lakes.- 2.7.1 Nutrients.- 2.8 Trophic Status and Hypolimnetic Oxygen Concentration.- 2.9 Acidification.- 2.9.1 Acidification in Streams.- 2.9.2 Restoration of Acidified Waters.- 2.10 Large Lakes.- 2.10.1 Distinction Between Large and Small Lakes.- 2.11 Biogeochemistry.- 2.11.1 Biological Interactions.- 2.11.2 Land-Water Interactions.- 2.11.3 Physical Processes.- 2.11.4 Biogeochemistry and Nutrient Relations.- 2.12 Food Webs.- 2.13 Modeling of Lake Ecosystems.- 2.14 Lake Morphometry.- 2.15 Eutrophication.- 2.15.1 Eutrophication: Hysteresis and Remediation.- 2.15.2 Physical Modifications.- 2.15.3 Reversibility of Anthropogenic Eutrophication.- 2.16 Eutrophication Control.- 2.16.1 In-Lake Control Measures.- 2.16.2 Technology of Lake Restoration.- 2.17 Use of Ecological Indicators for Lake Assessment.- 2.17.1 Exergy, Structural Exergy and Buffer Capacity.- 2.17.2 Practical Assessment of Ecosystem Health.- 2.18 Role of Industry in Lake Management.- 2.19 Wetlands.- 2.19.1 Importance.- 2.19.2 Classes.- 2.19.3 Functions.- 2.19.4 Subsistence Production and Commercial Production.- References.- 3 Marine Environment.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 The Intertidal Zone.- 3.3 Hydrothermal Vents.- 3.4 Marine and Coastal Pollution: Regional Sustainability.- 3.5 Living Resources.- 3.6 Marine Biodiversity.- 3.6.1 Biodiversity in Coral Reefs.- 3.7 Oceanic Productivity and Water Color.- 3.8 Life in Oceans: Past and Present.- 3.9 Phytoplankton.- 3.10 Clouds and Sea Surface Temperature.- 3.11 Marine Plankton and Clouds.- 3.12 Ocean and Climate.- 3.13 El Niño and Related Phenomena.- 3.14 Marine Eutrophication.- 3.15 Marine Litter.- 3.15.1 Coastal Dwellers.- 3.16 Disruption of Marine Ecosystems.- 3.16.1 Hazards of Harmful Substances Carried by Ships.- 3.16.2 Sea Surface Microlayer.- 3.17 Oil Spills.- 3.17.1 Behavior of Oil in the Environment.- 3.17.2 Spill Response Techniques.- 3.17.3 In Situ Burning of Oil Spills.- 3.17.4 Persistence of Oil in Subtidal Sediments.- 3.17.5 Containment of Oil in Flowing Water.- 3.17.6 Oil Sinking.- 3.17.7 Bioremediation of Oil Spills.- 3.17.8 Remote Sensing.- 3.18 Use of Indicators to Judge the Condition of Marine Ecosystems.- 3.19 Scales of Effects.- 3.20 Scenarios.- 3.20.1 Human Impacts.- 3.21 Shallow Water Habitats.- 3.21.1 Estuarine.- 3.21.2 Non-Estuarine.- 3.22 Recycling in the Deep Ocean.- 3.23 Deep Water Habitats.- 3.24 Indicators of Exposure and Effect.- 3.25 Biomarkers.- 3.26 Physiology.- 3.27 Ecology.- 3.28 Marine Pollution in India.- 3.29 The Indian Ocean Law and the Environment.- 3.29.1 Exclusive Rights.- 3.30 Ship Pollution.- 3.31 Waste from Land.- 3.31.1 Wanton Destruction.- 3.32 Animals in Peril.- 3.33 Desalination of Seawater.- References.- 4 Ozone Changes.- 4.1 The Ozone Shield.- 4.2 Ozone Formation.- 4.3 Miracle Substances.- 4.4 Catalytic Ozone Depletion.- 4.5 The Family of Organic Reactions.- 4.5.1 Organochlorine Compounds in Polar Regions.- 4.6 Methyl Bromide.- 4.7 The Polar Stratosphere.- 4.8 Polar Clouds and Sulfate Aerosols.- 4.9 Ozone in the Lower Stratosphere.- 4.10 CFC Substitutes.- 4.11 Causes of Ozone Depletion.- 4.11.1 The HOx Family of Reactions.- 4.11.2 The NOx Family of Reactions.- 4.11.3 The Halogen Family of Reactions.- 4.12 Ozone Layer Thickness.- 4.13 Total Column Ozone.- 4.14 Vertical Distribution of Ozone.- 4.15 Mount Pinatubo.- 4.16 Ozone Holes.- 4.16.1 The Antarctic Ozone Hole.- 4.16.2 Sulfate Aerosols and Ozone Depletion.- 4.16.3 Stratospheric Ozone Depletion by CIONO2 Photolysis.- 4.17 Ozone Depletion at Mid-Latitudes.- 4.18 The Ozone Depletion Controversy.- 4.18.1 Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange Process.- 4.18.2 Stratospheric Temperature Trends Assessment (STTA).- 4.19 Ozone Trends.- 4.20 Unresolved Issues.- 4.21 Ozone Changes and Climate.- 4.22 Tropospheric Ozone.- 4.22.1 The Meteorological Environment of the Tropospheric Ozone Maximum over the Tropical South Atlantic.- 4.22.2 Climatic Impact of Ozone Change and Aerosols.- 4.22.3 Tropospheric Aerosols.- 4.22.4 Mineral Dust.- 4.22.5 Indirect Effects of Aerosols.- 4.22.6 Stratospheric Aerosols.- 4.23 Impacts of Ozone and Carbon Dioxide on Crop Yields.- 4.24 The Montreal Protocol.- 4.24.1 Effects of the Protocol.- 4.25 Recent Ozone Developments.- References.- 5 Solar Ultraviolet Radiation.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Ozone depletion and solar UV.- 5.2.1 UV Variability.- 5.2.2 North-South Differences.- 5.3 Tropospheric Transmission in the Ultraviolet.- 5.4 Measurement of UV.- 5.4 Measurement of UV.- 5.5 Biological Hazards of Ultraviolet Exposure.- 5.6 UV Damage to Biological Molecules.- 5.7 Health Effects.- 5.7.1 Molecular Targets of UV.- 5.7.2 UV, Sunburn and Skin Cancer.- 5.7.3 UV Effects on the Immune System.- 5.7.4 UV Effects on the Eye.- 5.7.5 Positive Effects of UV Radiation.- 5.8 UV-B Effects on Plants and Terrestrial Ecosystems.- 5.8.1 Effects of UV-B and Ozone on Terrestrial Vegetation.- 5.9 Effects on Aquatic Ecosystems.- 5.9.1 Effects on Cyanobacteria.- 5.9.2 Effects on Amphibians.- 5.10 Polymer Degradation.- 5.11 Effect of UV-B on Air Quality.- References.

Blurb

This book gives an overall picture of the general state of the world's aquatic resources - rivers, lakes, wetlands and oceans - and of the atmospheric changes taking place in the troposphere and the stratosphere. Both ozone depletion in the stratosphere, leading to a greater incidence of the harmful ultraviolet-B radiation on the Earth's surface, and the adverse impact of increasing ground-level ozone are described in the light of recent research. The summarized scientific findings and views help to identify and implement sound preventive, corrective and remedial measures to cope with today's environmental problems.