Harris / Murray / Saltman Ecosystem Responses to Mercury Contamination

Indicators of Change
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8493-8889-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 240 Seiten

As rising levels of mercury in the environment pose an increasing threat of toxicity to humans and wildlife, several laws already call for industries to reduce mercury emissions at the source. Ecosystem Responses to Mercury Contamination: Indicators of Change outlines the infrastructure and methods needed to measure, monitor, and regulate the concentration of mercury present in the environment.

This book draws on the knowledge of forty international experts in the fields of atmospheric transport and deposition, mercury cycling in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and mercury bioaccumulation in aquatic foodwebs and wildlife. The authors propose a set of indicators to use as a measure of changing mercury concentrations in the environment. Next, they recommend a monitoring strategy and offer guidance for determining systematic changes in concentration. Then the authors examine additional monitoring strategies to relate observed changes in concentration to regulatory controls on mercury emissions. The final chapter provides an integrated framework for establishing a national-scale program to monitor mercury concentrations in the environment.

Ecosystem Responses to Mercury Contamination: Indicators of Change contains the information needed to design a large-scale monitoring program for mercury and to use the concentration data to create, enforce, and evaluate the progress of initiatives aimed at reducing mercury emissions.

Zielgruppe

Researchers and graduate students in toxicology and environmental policy experts.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Harris, Reed

Murray, Michael W.

Saltman, Tamara

Mason, Robert

Krabbenhoft, David P.

Reash, Robin

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Ökologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

INTRODUCTION
Mercury Emissions and Deposition
Mercury Concentration Trends in Fish
Book Objectives
Sampling Strategy

AIRSHEDS AND WATERSHEDS
Introduction
Airsheds
Watersheds

MONITORING AND EVALUATING TRENDS IN SEDIMENT AND WATER INDICATORS
Introduction
Sediment and Water Indicators
Candidate Indicators
Monitoring Strategy
Ancillary Data
Anticipating Response Times

MONITORING AND EVALUATING TRENDS IN METHYLMERCURY ACCUMULATION IN AQUATIC BIOTA
Introduction
Objectives
Aquatic Biological Indicators
Monitoring and Trend Analysis
Ancillary Data
Interpretation of Biological Monitoring Data

WILDLIFE INDICATORS
Objectives
Host Factors
Types of Bioindicators
Candidate Bioindicator Species
Tissue and Other Samples
Physiological, Cellular and Molecular Biomarkers
Elements of a Biomonitoring Framework
Conclusions

AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR ECOLOGICAL MERCURY ASSESSMENTS
Recurring Themes
Complexities/Confounding Factors
Recommendations

Acknowledgements