Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Volume 180, Issue -, Pages 324-329Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2013.05.025
Keywords
Decomposition; Primary production; Community respiration; Toxic units; Aquatic
Categories
Funding
- Rosa-Luxemburg foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We reviewed 122 peer-reviewed studies on the effects of organic toxicants and heavy metals on three fundamental ecosystem functions in freshwater ecosystems, i.e. leaf litter breakdown, primary production and community respiration. From each study meeting the inclusion criteria, the concentration resulting in a reduction of at least 20% in an ecosystem function was standardized based on median effect concentrations of standard test organisms (i.e. algae and daphnids). For pesticides, more than one third of observations indicated reductions in ecosystem functions at concentrations that are assumed being protective in regulation. Moreover, the reduction in leaf litter breakdown was more pronounced in the presence of invertebrate decomposers compared to studies where only microorganisms were involved in this function. High variability within and between studies hampered the derivation of a concentration effect relationship. Hence, if ecosystem functions are to be included as protection goal in chemical risk assessment standardized methods are required. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available