Pollution Threat of Heavy Metals in Aquatic Environments

Softcover Nachdruck of the original 1. Auflage 1987
ISBN: 978-94-010-8030-9
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 372 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 561 g

Reihe: Pollution Monitoring Series

The role of the European Community in developing environmental legislation has focused the minds of pollution control agencies and industrialists on the need for, and the evidence to support, water quality standards. This is particularly so for the Dangerous Substances Directive which has led to European standards for cadmium, mercury and lindane. Additionally the United Kingdom has published standards for six other non-ferrous metals. In this book I have sought to review the aquatic toxicity information for these and other metals, not just by the collation of the results of all the published toxicity tests, but by the critical consideration of the test techniques. A surprising proportion of the reported toxicity studies for aquatic organisms are based on unsatisfactory chemical or biological methods. That such weaknesses persist at a time of limited resources for environmental research is disappointing, especially when sound metho dologies are extensively documented and widely published. Evaluation of the critically reviewed and vetted data indicates that many of the previously accepted generalisations about the toxicity of metals to aquatic life are invalid: for instance the assumption that salmonid species of fish are more susceptible to these metals than coarse fish, or that increased water hardness decreases toxicity. Too few studies have actually sought to test such hypotheses.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mance, G.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Mercury.- 1.2 Cadmium.- 1.3 Other Metals.- 1.4 Sources and Controls.- 2 Toxicity Testing Techniques.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Terminology.- 2.3 Physical Factors in Toxicity Tests.- 2.4 Biological Factors in Toxicity Tests.- 2.5 Numbers of Test Animals.- 2.6 Chemical Conditions of Tests.- 3 Toxicity of Metals to Freshwater Fish.- 3.1 Arsenic.- 3.2 Cadmium.- 3.3 Chromium.- 3.4 Copper.- 3.5 Lead.- 3.6 Mercury.- 3.7 Nickel.- 3.8 Selenium.- 3.9 Silver.- 3.10 Vanadium.- 3.11 Zinc.- 4 Toxicity of Metals to Freshwater Invertebrates.- 4.1 Arsenic.- 4.2 Cadmium.- 4.3 Chromium.- 4.4 Copper.- 4.5 Lead.- 4.6 Mercury.- 4.7 Nickel.- 4.8 Selenium.- 4.9 Silver.- 4.10 Vanadium.- 4.11 Zinc.- 5 Toxicity of Metals to Marine Life.- 5.1 Arsenic.- 5.2 Cadmium.- 5.3 Chromium.- 5.4 Copper.- 5.5 Lead.- 5.6 Mercury.- 5.7 Nickel.- 5.8 Selenium.- 5.9 Silver.- 5.10 Vanadium.- 5.11 Zinc.- 6 Factors Affecting Toxicity.- 6.1 Interspecies Variations in Freshwater Fish.- 6.2 Interphyletic Variations.- 6.3 Life Stage.- 6.4 Water Hardness.- 6.5 Temperature.- 6.6 pH.- 6.7 Salinity.- 6.8 Acclimation.- 6.9 Fluctuating Exposure Concentrations.- 6.10 Mixtures of Metals.- 7 Freshwater Field Studies.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Biological Assessment.- 7.3 Water Quality.- 7.4 Case Studies.- 8 Tidal Water Field Studies.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Physical Factors.- 8.3 Chemical Factors.- 8.4 Biology.- 8.5 Case Studies.- 9 Bioaccumulation.- 9.1 Biomagnification of Metals.- 9.2 Factors Affecting Bioaccumulation.- 9.3 Monitoring.- 10 Environmental Standards.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 Derivation of Standards.- 10.3 Statistical Expression of the Standard.- 10.4 The Relationship between Field and Laboratory Information.- 10.5 Effluent Controls from Environmental Standards.- 11 International Controls.- References.