Ecotoxicology

A comprehensive overview of the ecological consequence of environmental pollution by toxic substances. It aims to show how global toxic substances, whether chemical or radioactive, impinge on the environment not only at the level of the sensitive species but throughout the whole ecosystem.;The author demonstrates that a very significant area of ecotoxicological study concerns changes within a complete ecosystem, since these changes ultimately affect fundamental mechanisms such as energy flow and the cycle of matter inside the polluted ecosystem.;The introduction is devoted to the methods and techniques used in ecotoxicological research to analyse the effects of toxics on individual organisms, populations and communities. The origins and importance of environmental pollution are then discussed, with an account of the mechanisms for their dispersal and circulation in the biosphere. This is followed by studies of the ecological effects of chemical pollutants on terrestrial, freshwater and oceanic systems. The effects of nuclear pollution, especially the problems generated by radioactive wastes, are covered separately as these form very specific areas for ecotoxicological concern.;Emphasis is laid on the major groups of environmental contaminants: Atmospheric pollutants (especially those causing acid rain); Heavy metals; Pesticides; Fertilizers; Organohalogenated and other organic toxic compounds; Hydrocarbons and oil pollution; and Radionucleides.