Chronic pollution in freshwaters, evaluation of ecological impacts and implications for water resource management

Abstract

Conventional techniques for assessing and monitoring water quality have been primarily based either on the use of living material as “bio‐indicators” or on the employment of analytical measurements to provide information about the physical and chemical status of aquatic ecosystems. The former have predominantly utilised the presence of selected species to indicate the quality of waters in which they are found, whilst the latter require an adequate understanding of the toxic effects of specific physio‐chemical phenomena in order that their ecological impacts may be fully gauged. These approaches are well established but more recently attention has turned to the use of sub‐lethal effects to give a better measure of the sensitivity of populations and individuals to environmental change. Chronic exposure to toxic compounds in freshwater may allow individuals to survive but, owing to impaired growth, altered reproductive potential or behaviour modification, the population structure and dynamics may show symptoms of exposure. This paper explores whether the evaluation of sub‐lethal effects may provide the basis of techniques which are capable of providing ecologically relevant information about pollution impacts in a cost‐effective manner.

Citation

Barnes, N.J. (1998), "Chronic pollution in freshwaters, evaluation of ecological impacts and implications for water resource management", Environmental Management and Health, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 49-53. https://doi.org/10.1108/09566169810211140