Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
continued for a prolonged period would result in reduced growth rate, and
presumably translate into ecological effects.
Conclusions
It is clear from the examples outlined that pollution can produce subtle
changes in community composition which can be detected in some circum-
stances, but in other cases are undetectable because of environmental hetero-
geneity. Widely used methods of ecological monitoring are particularly
susceptible to environmental heterogeneity, so are almost certainly failing to
detect extensive effects of pollution in the marine environment, although this
is less likely to be occurring in freshwater. This implies that there may be
substantial parts of the marine environment where undetected effects of pol-
lution are occurring, and evidence of global effects of humans on coral reefs,
and evidence of stress on mussels throughout large parts of the UK's coastal
waters give some cause for concern. New statistical methodologies may
improve the ability of monitoring to detect effects, but it may be that the
problem is addressed more effectively by alternative approaches. Sediment
toxicity testing, pollution induced community tolerance and biomarkers such
as Scope for Growth that are linked closely to ecological effects are proving to
be as sensitive as ecological monitoring but are less affected by environmental
heterogeneity.
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