首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
相似文献
 共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 31 毫秒
1.
《Marine pollution bulletin》2007,54(10-12):631-639
RAMP embraces the integrated use of methods for the rapid measurement, assessment and access to information on the nature, sources and influences of coastal environmental change. It embraces approaches held in the literature, research and programs of RAMP (Rapid Assessment of Marine Pollution) and the emerging work described as RASE (Rapid Assessment of Socio-Economic Indicators). To protect coastal ecosystems and the health of communities effectively, management infrastructure requires the tools and resources necessary to detect damage to coastal ecosystems and their components, identify causative agents, impose remedial action, and demonstrate that measures have been effective. Pragmatic monitoring and prediction capabilities must also be built to provide further confidence that human impacts are being minimized and that threats to human health have been contained. For most of the world, however, the ability to build such capability is a technical challenge and often cost prohibitive. These constraints point to the need to develop and expand the integrated use of simple, robust, cost-effective environmental assessment procedures. This paper suggests that a system built around the Rapid Assessment of Marine Pollution (RAMP) and the Rapid Assessment of Socio-Economic Indicators (RASE) can, should and in some cases already has been effective in meeting such informational and management needs.  相似文献   

2.
Marine pollution is a major threat to human and environmental health. Given the complexity of function of marine and coastal ecosystems, it is unlikely that a balanced view of the nature and extent of risk will easily be achieved if human and environmental risk assessments continue to be conducted in isolation. Here, the integration of assessment protocols is advocated as a holistic means of improving risk management. Biomarkers can provide the common conceptual framework and measurable endpoints necessary for successful integration. Examples are given of the ways in which suites of biomarkers encompassing molecular change, cellular pathology and physiological impairment can be developed and adapted for human and ecological scenarios. By placing a greater emphasis on the health status of impacted biota, it is more likely that risk assessment will develop the efficiency, reliability and predictive power to adapt to the unforeseen environmental threats that are an inevitable consequence of human development and global change.  相似文献   

3.
Two mathematical methods to assess the "health status" of flounder (Platichthys flesus), eelpout (Zoarces viviparus) and blue mussel (Mytilus spp.) populations of the Baltic Sea were applied on selected biomarker data collected during the EU project "BEEP" (Biological Effects of Environmental Pollution on Marine Coastal Ecosystems). The Bioeffect Assessment Index (BAI) and the Integrated Biomarker Index (IBR) combine different biomarkers to single values, which can be used to describe the toxically-induced stress level of populations in different areas. Both indices determined here produced essentially similar results, which in most cases agreed with the known contamination levels in the different study areas. Advantages and limitations of index applications and interpretations are critically discussed. The use of indices provides comprehensive information about biological effects of pollution in marine organisms and may therefore serve as a useful tool for environmental management by ranking the pollution status of marine coastal areas.  相似文献   

4.
A fully integrated and effective response to an oil or chemical spill at sea must include a well planned and executed post-incident assessment of environmental contamination and damage. While salvage, rescue and clean-up operations are generally well considered, including reviews and exercises, the expertise, resources, networks and logistical planning required to achieve prompt and effective post-spill impact assessment and monitoring are not generally well established.The arrangement and co-ordination of post-incident monitoring and impact assessment need to consider sampling design, biological effects, chemical analysis and collection/interpretation of expert local knowledge. This paper discusses the risks, impacts and mitigation options associated with accidental spills and considers the importance of pre-considered impact assessment and monitoring programmes in the wider response cycle. The PREMIAM (Pollution Response in Emergencies: Marine Impact Assessment and Monitoring; www.premiam.org) project is considered as an example of an improved approach to the planning, co-ordination and conduct of post-incident monitoring.  相似文献   

5.
The ECOMAN was initiated in 2001 by the University of Plymouth, UK, Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Department of the Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to address the need for more pragmatic assessment techniques linking environmental degradation with its causes. The primary aim of the project was to develop an evidence-based approach in which suites of easy-to-use, cost-effective and environmentally valid biological responses (biomarkers) could be used together to assess the health of coastal systems through the general condition of individuals. A range of sub-lethal endpoints, chosen to reflect successive levels of biological organisation (molecular, cellular, physiological), was evaluated in common coastal organisms showing different feeding types (filter feeding, grazing, predation) and habitat requirements (estuary, rocky shore). Initially, the suite of biomarkers was used in laboratory studies to determine the relative sensitivities of key species within different functional groups to common contaminants. These results were then validated in field studies performed in a range of ecosystems exhibiting different degrees/signatures of contamination. Here, an example is provided of a field study in the Humber Estuary, UK, which illustrates how multivariate statistical analysis can be used to identify patterns of response to discriminate between contaminated and clean sites. The use of a holistic, integrated approach of this kind is advocated as a practical means of assessing the impact of chemical contamination on organismal health and of ranking the status of marine ecosystems.  相似文献   

6.
Recently, several monitoring programmes have been undertaken to evaluate the impact of different anthropogenic activities, upon a range of coastal ecosystems located in the South-western Atlantic. In the present contribution, the applicability of the AZTI's Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) is tested, to establish the benthic health of the ecosystem using these data sets. As the AMBI was created previously for use in European estuarine and coastal environments, its general applicability to new geographical locations is discussed. In general, the results are in agreement with those obtained using traditional univariate and multivariate methods. Some inconsistent results are observed, when low abundances and/or number of taxa are recorded in the samples. Moreover, when the macrofauna samples are dominated by large nematodes, the classification of the benthic ecosystem health using AMBI is not consistent with previous results achieved applying other statistical techniques. Thus, parallel to the application of this index to a wider extend, the complementary use of different indices and/or methods is recommended to assess confidently the environmental quality of a coastal area.  相似文献   

7.
The main goal of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to achieve good ecological status across European surface waters by 2015 and as such, it offers the opportunity and thus the challenge to improve the protection of our coastal systems. It is the main example for Europe's increasing desire to conserve aquatic ecosystems. Ironically, since c. 1975 the increasing adoption of EU directives has been accompanied by a decreasing interest of, for example, the Dutch government to assess the quality of its coastal and marine ecosystems. The surveillance and monitoring started in NL in 1971 has declined since the 1980s resulting in a 35% reduction of sampling stations. Given this and interruptions the remaining data series is considered to be insufficient for purposes other than trend analysis and compliance. The Dutch marine managers have apparently chosen a minimal (cost-effective) approach despite the WFD implicitly requiring the incorporation of the system's 'ecological complexity' in indices used to evaluate the ecological status of highly variable systems such as transitional and coastal waters. These indices should include both the community structure and system functioning and to make this really cost-effective a new monitoring strategy is required with a tailor-made programme. Since the adoption of the WFD in 2000 and the launching of the European Marine Strategy in 2002 (and the recently proposed Marine Framework Directive) we suggest reviewing national monitoring programmes in order to integrate water quality monitoring and biological monitoring and change from 'station oriented monitoring' to 'basin or system oriented monitoring' in combination with specific 'cause-effect' studies for highly dynamic coastal systems. Progress will be made if the collected information is integrated and aggregated in valuable tools such as structure- and functioning-oriented computer simulation models and Decision Support Systems. The development of ecological indices integrating community structure and system functioning, such as in Ecological Network Analysis, are proposed to meet a cost-effective approach at the national level and full assessment of the ecosystem status at the EU level. The WFD offers the opportunity to re-consider and re-invest in environmental research and monitoring. Using examples from the Netherlands and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom, the present paper therefore reviews marine monitoring and marine environmental research in combination and in the light of such major policy initiatives such as the WFD.  相似文献   

8.
快速有效的生物监测指标对于评估、保护、管理和恢复淡水生态系统至关重要.传统评估方法主要利用指示生物或类群的出现率和多度信息,但是忽略了水体环境中“生物”与“生物”,以及“生物”与“环境”间相互作用的复杂关系,而这些相互作用对淡水生态系统的生物多样性、生态系统服务功能以及生态系统对环境变化的响应有着深刻影响.生物共现网络是群落水平物种互作的结构模型,通过物种在群落出现及丰度数据,描述了物种间潜在的相互作用、群落的基本结构,反映群落在生态系统的功能和结构特性.生物共现网络展示了淡水生态系统中所有生物体之间潜在的相互作用关系,其拓扑结构特性可与特定的生态系统状态相关联,能够揭示生态系统的组织规律及其功能,可作为早期的、灵敏的生物指标,是一种很有应用前景的评估淡水生态系统状态和稳定性的工具.  相似文献   

9.
The main content of the new European Water Framework Directive is presented. Within its river basin management approach, a special mention of coastal waters status is made. Among the issues at stake are the setting up of river basin management plans, including coastal waters, and water quality assessment system leading to an harmonized definition of quality objectives and their appropriate indicators. The Rhone-Mediterranean-Corsica Water Master Plan, launched in 1996, is considered to be well fitted to this river basin approach and the necessary tools which go with it. It shows up how a river quality assessment system (SEQ) can be adapted to the coastal waters and how it can progressively lead to an efficient set of publishable environmental and performance indicators. Since planning and implementation are devolved to the lowest appropriate level, a close look is then been given at how such a system can work at the local level through different selected case studies on the French Mediterranean coast. In conclusion, some guidelines are drawn up for future initiatives towards integrated coastal area and river basin management.  相似文献   

10.
A UK perspective on the development of marine ecosystem indicators   总被引:4,自引:0,他引:4  
This paper reviews the suite of marine ecosystem indicators currently in use or under development in the UK to support the major national and international biodiversity and ecosystem policies. Indicators apply to a range of different ecosystem components, and range from those that can only be used for high level environmental health monitoring, to those which actively support management. Assessment of indicators against a management framework of driving force, pressure, state, impact and response, has shown that there are many indicators of state for ecosystem components, but relatively few for pressure of human activities on the environment, or of the socio-economic response to those pressures. This outcome, a result of unplanned sectorally driven indicator development, is not a co-ordinated contribution to marine environmental management and must be addressed if we are to avoid high monitoring costs and duplication of effort.  相似文献   

11.
In recent years, several sets of legislation worldwide (Oceans Act in USA, Australia or Canada; Water Framework Directive or Marine Strategy in Europe, National Water Act in South Africa, etc.) have been developed in order to address ecological quality or integrity, within estuarine and coastal systems. Most such legislation seeks to define quality in an integrative way, by using several biological elements, together with physico-chemical and pollution elements. Such an approach allows assessment of ecological status at the ecosystem level ('ecosystem approach' or 'holistic approach' methodologies), rather than at species level (e.g. mussel biomonitoring or Mussel Watch) or just at chemical level (i.e. quality objectives) alone. Increasing attention has been paid to the development of tools for different physico-chemical or biological (phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos, algae, phanerogams, fishes) elements of the ecosystems. However, few methodologies integrate all the elements into a single evaluation of a water body. The need for such integrative tools to assess ecosystem quality is very important, both from a scientific and stakeholder point of view. Politicians and managers need information from simple and pragmatic, but scientifically sound methodologies, in order to show to society the evolution of a zone (estuary, coastal area, etc.), taking into account human pressures or recovery processes. These approaches include: (i) multidisciplinarity, inherent in the teams involved in their implementation; (ii) integration of biotic and abiotic factors; (iii) accurate and validated methods in determining ecological integrity; and (iv) adequate indicators to follow the evolution of the monitored ecosystems. While some countries increasingly use the establishment of marine parks to conserve marine biodiversity and ecological integrity, there is awareness (e.g. in Australia) that conservation and management of marine ecosystems cannot be restricted to Marine Protected Areas but must include areas outside such reserves. This contribution reviews the current situation of integrative ecological assessment worldwide, by presenting several examples from each of the continents: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.  相似文献   

12.
Beginning in the middle of the 1980s, the Gulf of California ecoregion experienced a boom in shrimp aquaculture and became the second largest producer in the western hemisphere. The moderated, but continual development of shrimp farming, in conjunction with municipal and agriculture effluents has been accompanied by concern about: (a) depletion of fishing stocks, (b) reduction of mangrove forest, (c) frequent harmful algal blooms in coastal waters and shrimp ponds, and (d) water quality deterioration. We demonstrate that environmental degradation resulted from a conjunction of factors including agriculture, untreated municipal effluents, shrimp aquaculture, increasing number of fishermen, and an absence of an effective regulatory program. We recommend the immediate implementation of an integrated coastal management program to protect the integrity of the coastal ecosystems and operate upon the principle of environmental sustainability for the different economic activities including shrimp aquaculture.  相似文献   

13.
14.
In the Baltic Sea, studies regarding biological effects of contaminants are relatively few, partly due to political and economical reasons, specific hydrographic characteristics, and a strong eutrophication-targeted research focus during the past three decades. The development of a monitoring strategy concerning biological effects and its implementation into environmental monitoring programmes in the Baltic Sea is lagging behind the progress currently taking place in most of western and southern Europe. The pan-European project BEEP (Biological Effects of Environmental Pollution on Marine Coastal Ecosystems, 2001-2004) included the Baltic Sea as one of the target areas for the evaluation of a suite of biological effects indicators in European coastal waters. The main aims of the BEEP project are described and how the expected outcome for the Baltic Sea could provide the needed "baseline" information and expertise for a biological effect monitoring and contribute to harmonise environmental monitoring programmes within the EU.  相似文献   

15.
Consideration of environmental flows in river basin management poses great challenges. Environmental flows are interpreted as the natural or regulated releases of water needed in a river to maintain specified valued features of the river ecosystems. This has never been considered explicitly in water resources management of a river basin. An attempt is, therefore, made here to reflect the perception and implications of environmental flows in water resources management. Assessment approaches are reviewed in the context of flow characteristics of a river system and recommendations are put forward on what is to be done to adopt this new concept in practice.  相似文献   

16.
Marine environmental impact as a result of copper mine tailing dumping in the sea is studied at Chañaral (North of Chile). These dumpings, from the copper mine El Salvador, have hindered harbour activities, caused geomorphological coastal modifications and affected seriously marine coastal ecosystems and recreational activities. At the old dumping site, Chañaral Bay (1938–1974), nearly 150 million tons of fine sediments were accumulated. Tailing discharges at the new dumping site, Caleta Palito, about 8 km north of Chañaral Bay are accumulating approximately at the rate of 25 000 tons of fine sediments per day, plus unknown quantities of chemicals (Cu, As, CN?). From January 1975 to July 1976, this site has received over 13 million tons of sediments which has caused deterioration of the marine coastal environment, reduction in light penetration and high mortalities among marine invertebrates, fishes and algae.  相似文献   

17.
A comprehensive assessment of the chemical and physical factors affecting metal accumulation and cycling within salt marshes is presented. The effects that changes in physico-chemical properties (redox potential, salinity, pH, etc.) have upon metal mobility, speciation and consequent biological availability are described together with the implications for salt marsh habitat loss. Salt marshes act as very efficient sinks for metal contaminants although metal concentrations in halophytes do not generally reflect environmental contamination levels. Marine angiosperms, particularly Zostera marina, do however, reflect external metal concentrations and can therefore be used as biomonitors. Evidence suggests that the concentration of heavy metals in the sediments of most estuaries is not sufficiently high to cause ill effects to salt marsh plants although further investigations are necessary to assess potential threats of pollutants upon the health of these intertidal ecosystems.  相似文献   

18.
Assessing agroecosystem health at landscape scale has been rarely reported. A geospatial assessment framework, by integrating remote sensing, geographical information systems, landscape metrics, geostatistics and catastrophe theory, was proposed and applied to characterize the spatial variations of agroecosystem health for a typical region in the eastern coastal agricultural plain, China. After appropriate pretreatments, eleven hierarchically structured indicators, subject to catastrophe models, were aggregated into an integrated index for each 30 m grid cell across the study area. Great spatial variations in agroecosystem health were identified. Areas covered by water bodies and impervious surfaces, under which soils can not function, generally presented low values. Larger slope or higher heavy metal polluted areas and those near roads showed low or moderate values of agroecosystem health index. Concerning the spatial variations of agroecosystems health, patches of approximately 4 km in diameter were identified, within which more homogenous patterns would be expected. Specifically, the spatial variations of agroecosystems health should be resulted from the location-specific coupled influences of the underlying indicators. The integrated agroecosystem health index is believed to be helpful for managers to promote environmental management. The geospatial assessment framework reported in this paper was simple and operational, and has potential to be applicable to other areas with similar conditions at landscape scale.  相似文献   

19.
20.
Different levels of eutrophication and pollution in the Baltic coastal waters in general, and in estuaries particularly define variations in the buffering capacity of ecosystems of these important filter zones between rivers and the adjacent Baltic Proper. Phyto- and zooplankton in the estuaries form important components of the pelagic food webs that participate in producing and structuring the matter, energy, and information fluxes in the ecosystems. Due to salinity gradients, estuaries provide a large variety of aquatic habitats for native populations of marine, brackish and fresh water plankton species. Non-indigenous planktonic species that expand their bio-geographical range and invade the Baltic coastal ecosystems also find favourable environments, establish permanent populations there, and impact aboriginal ecosystems. The dynamics of abundance, species diversity, population structure, productivity of planktonic communities, and peculiarities of trophic interactions in different Baltic estuaries are influenced by a number of common environmental factors. Being measured on the unified basis and monitored, changes (or stability) of structural and functional parameters of plankton communities can serve as indicators of alterations to the ecosystems. Comparative analyses and quantitative estimates of long-term changes in phyto- and zooplankton can contribute to evaluation of functional response of Baltic coastal ecosystems to anthropogenic stress. Both theoretical (modeling) and empirical studies of interactions within plankton communities aimed at the assessment of the role of planktonic organisms in water quality regulation, and applicability of these data for the evaluation of the status of ecosystems and their management can be considered as major goals for the future investigations in Baltic estuaries.  相似文献   

设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号