Marine Mesocosms

by G.D. Grice
Marine Mesocosms
Author: G.D. Grice
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1461256453
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Techniques developed for enclosing viable natural planktonic ecosystems pro vided the opportunity for prolonged and detailed investigation of dynamic events within the pelagic system of a known water body. Recent investigations into plankton ecology, using enclosure systems in dif ferent marine environments, are discussed in relation to the data obtained from the Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, plastic-sphere experiments of 1960 and 1962. Three types of modern enclosure experiments are recognized: floating systems within nutrient levels maintained or running down, and benthic attached systems. The review largely discusses results from the two kinds of floating systems. Processes at several trophic levels have been investigated in enclosures. This review attempts to draw together details from all experimental systems to emphasize the enclosures' contribution to our understanding of planktonic systems. Enclosures made it possible to examine primary production processes, particularly in relation to inorganic nutrient availability and water-column sta bility. Recent experiments have used the understanding of these processes as a management technique in maintaining different planktonic systems. Relation ships between primary and secondary trophic levels are not always easy to inter pret, since the growth of primary carnivore populations can often determine the survival of zooplankton populations. Nevertheless, the development of co horts of herbivorous zooplankton has been followed in several enclosures, yield ing useful information on development times and production rates. In enclosed systems it is thus possible to directly relate tertiary level production to inorganic nutrient input, and to calculate production rates and exchange efficiencies at several trophic levels.

Marine Ecotoxicology

by Julián Blasco
Marine Ecotoxicology
Author: Julián Blasco
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2016-08-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 012803372X
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Marine Ecotoxicology: Current Knowledge and Future Issues is the first unified resource to cover issues related to contamination, responses, and testing techniques of saltwater from a toxicological perspective. With its unprecedented focus on marine environments and logical chapter progression, this book is useful to graduate students, ecotoxicologists, risk assessors, and regulators involved or interested in marine waters. As human interaction with these environments increases, understanding of the pollutants and toxins introduced into the oceans becomes ever more critical, and this book builds a foundation of knowledge to assist scientists in studying, monitoring, and making decisions that affect both marine environments and human health. A team of world renowned experts provide detailed analyses of the most common contaminants in marine environments and explain the design and purpose of toxicity testing methods, while exploring the future of ecotoxicology studies in relation to the world's oceans. As the threat of increasing pollution in marine environments becomes an ever more tangible reality, Marine Ecotoxicology offers insights and guidance to mitigate that threat. - Provides practical tools and methods for assessing and monitoring the accumulation and effects of contaminants in marine environments - Unites world renowned experts in marine ecotoxicology to deliver thorough and diverse perspectives - Builds the foundation required for risk assessors and regulators to adequately assess and monitor the impact of pollution in marine environments - Offers helpful insights and guidance to graduate students, ecotoxicologists, risk assessors, and regulators interested in mitigating threats to marine waters

Enclosed Experimental Marine Ecosystems: A Review and Recommendations

by Carol M. Lalli
Enclosed Experimental Marine Ecosystems: A Review and Recommendations
Author: Carol M. Lalli
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1468464019
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The application of mesocosms, defined in this report as artificial 3 3 experimental enclosures ranging in size from 1 m to 10m , to address various problems in the marine sciences has been a relatively recent development. The application of the technology was dictated by the realization that many important ocean processes and interactions cannot be fully understood from observations in the natural environment or in smaller enclosures. Such studies involve, for example, determining the interactions between, and energy transfer from, one trophic level to another, the biogeochemical cycling of elements and compounds, etc. These and similar interactions and rate processes cannot normally be established in situations (nature) where the detection and quantification of rate processes are confused by advection and/or the inability to study the same populations over time. In the case of microcosms, mixed populations of primary producers, consumers, and carnivores cannot be maintained, in balance, for a sufficient length of time to determine normal interactions between the various components of these trophic levels. This report, prepared by SCOR Working Group 85, critically examines past applications of mesocosms to ocean research, though there is no attempt to comprehensively review all literature relevant to the subject. Further, the report outlines some important advances emanating from their use and provides recommendations for future applications. It constitutes the first of two reports from the Working Group (see Introduction).

Heterotrophic Activity in the Sea

by Peter J.LeB. Williams
Heterotrophic Activity in the Sea
Author: Peter J.LeB. Williams
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1468490109
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Introduction This book contains papers given at a NATO Advanced Research Institute (A.R.I.) held at Caiscais, Portugal, in November, 1981. The subject of the A.R.I. was marine heterotrophy; this is defined as the process by which the carbon autotrophically fixed into organic compounds by photosynthesis is transformed and respired. Obviously all animals and many microbes are heterotrophs but here we will deal only with the microbes. Also, we restricted the A.R.I. primarily to microbial heterotrophy in the water column even though we recognize that a great deal occurs in sediments. Most of the recent advances have, in fact, been made in the water column because it is easier to work in a fluid, apparently uniform medium. The reason for the A.R.I. was the rapid development of this subject over the past few years. Methods and arguments have flourished so it is now time for a review and for a sorting out. We wish to thank the NATO Marine Science Committee for sharing this view, F. Azam, A.-L. Meyer-Reil, L. Pomeroy, C. Lee, and B. Hargrave for organizational help, and H. Lang and S. Semino for valuable editing aid.

Enclosed Experimental Ecosystems and Scale

by John E. Petersen
Enclosed Experimental Ecosystems and Scale
Author: John E. Petersen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2010-01-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0387767673
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Enclosed ecosystem experiments have gained in popularity as research tools in ecological science, particularly in the study of coastal aquatic environments. These systems provide scientists with a degree of experimental control that is not achievable through field experiments. Yet to date, techniques for systematically extrapolating results from small-scale experimental ecosystems to larger, deeper, more open, more biologically diverse, and more heterogeneous ecosystems in nature have not been well developed. Likewise, researchers have lacked methods for comparing and extrapolating information among natural ecosystems that differ in scale. Enclosed Experimental Ecosystems and Scale: Tools for Understanding and Managing Coastal Ecosystems provides scientists, managers, and policy makers with an introduction to what has been termed the "problem of scale", and presents information that will allow for improved design and interpretation of enclosed experimental aquatic ecosystems. The book integrates the results of a 10-year research project involving a multi-disciplinary team of scientists and students to explore scale-related questions in a variety of coastal habitats. Anticipating use as a reference, the book has been designed so that individual sections and individual pages can function as stand alone units.

Pollution of the North Sea

by Wim Salomons
Pollution of the North Sea
Author: Wim Salomons
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 753
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642737099
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This preface is being written at a time of exceptional public interest in the North Sea, following media head lines on toxic algal blooms, the mass mortality of common seals, and concern over pollution levels. These headlines may suggest that pollution of the North Sea is a recent event. This is not the case. Although no data are available (methods simply did not exist), it is safe to assume that emission (both into air and water) of heavy metals already started to increase in the 19th cen tury. The growth of cities and introduction of sewer sys tems led to the discharge of raw sewage and sewage sludge. The introduction of man-made (xenobiotic) organ ic chemicals and their subsequent emission into the North Sea commenced before the second world war. The shallower and coastal areas of the North Sea receive the highest concentrations of these pollutants. Not unexpectedly, these areas - some Norwegian fjords, the Dutch coast, the German Bight - show signs of ecosystem deterioration and eutrophication. A certain percentage of the pollutants does not remain in the North Sea but is "exported" to the Atlantic. The North Sea therefore con tributes to the global input of pollutants to the world's oceans. The major part of the pollutants accumulate in the North Sea and are incorporated in the bottom sediments. Although they are "out of sight", they should not be "out of mind".

Trace Metals in Sea Water

by C. Wong
Trace Metals in Sea Water
Author: C. Wong
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 913
Release: 2013-06-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1475768648
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In recent years, rapid scientific advances have been shattering classical concepts of oceanic trace metals concentrations. Most of the data gathered before the mid-1970s have had to be discarded. Possible associations of organic and inorganic ligands with the metals were throwing views of metal speciation into great uncertainty. Biological effects of metals need to be re-examined after recent revelations of unsuspected metal contaminations in methodology. The investigations appear chaotic, yet exciting. It implies that a new order is going to replace the past. Now, an opportunity opens its door to a brave new world for the young generation of scientists to put metal chemistries in the oceans into perspectiveo This N. AoToO. International Conference on "Trace Metals in Sea Water" hoped to catalyze this exciting process of unifying various aspects of trace metals in sea water in future years o The Conference, in the form of an Advanced Research Institute supported by the Scientific Affairs Division of NoAoT. O. supple mented by further assistance of the UoS. Office of Naval "Research, was held at the "Ettore Majorana" Center for Scientific Culture in the medieval town of Erice on the island of Sicily, Italy from March 30 to April 3, 1981. It was the first organized gathering of international scientists in this specialized field. Seventy scientists with various expertise in different aspects of the subject were present: including those from NoAoT. Oo countries (Canada, France, F. R. Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, U. K.

Aquatic Mesocosm Studies in Ecological Risk Assessment

by Robert L. Graney
Aquatic Mesocosm Studies in Ecological Risk Assessment
Author: Robert L. Graney
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 736
Release: 2020-10-25
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1000115038
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A Special Publication of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Aquatic Mesocosm Studies in Ecological Risk Assessment discusses the methods currently used for conducting simulated field studies and provides a series of case histories in which mesocosm type studies have been used to assess the impact of pesticides on aquatic ecosystems. Specific chapters address the dosing and exposure components of such studies and how they influence experimental design. Advantages and disadvantages of various statistical designs are addressed in detail. Regulatory aspects of the design and interpretation of these studies are also covered. The book will be a superb reference for aquatic biologists, ecologists, toxicologists, environmental toxicologists, environmental chemists, and regulatory personnel.