Ecological Risk Assessment of Contaminants in Soil

Many industrialized and developing countries are faced with the assessment of potential risks associated with contaminated land. A variety of human activities have left their impacts on soils in the form of elevated and locally high concentrations of potential toxicants. In several cases sources have not yet been stopped and contamination continues. Decisions on the management of contaminated sites and on the regulation of chemicals in the terrestrial environment require information on the extent to which toxicants adversely affect the life support function of soils. Ecological insights into the soil as an ecosystem may support such decisions. This book reviews the latest ecological principles that should be considered in this respect. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Ecological approaches in soil ecotoxicology....Pages 3-21 Front Matter....Pages 23-23 Scientific basis for extrapolating results from soil ecotoxicity tests to field conditions and the use of bioassays....Pages 25-50 Is it possible to develop microbial test systems to evaluate pollution effects on soil nutrient cycling?....Pages 51-69 Front Matter....Pages 71-71 Ecotoxicology, biodiversity and the species concept with special reference to springtails (Insecta: Collembola)....Pages 73-83 Effects of toxicants on population and community parameters in field conditions, and their potential use in the validation of risk assessment methods....Pages 85-123 Front Matter....Pages 125-125 Linking structure and function in marine sedimentary and terrestrial soil ecosystems: implications for extrapolation from the laboratory to the field....Pages 127-156 A food-web approach to assess the effects of disturbance on ecosystem structure, function and stability....Pages 157-171 Front Matter....Pages 173-173 Scale dependency in the ecological risks posed by pollutants: is there a role for ecological theory in risk assessment?....Pages 175-189 Dispersal, heterogeneity and resistance: challenging soil quality assessment....Pages 191-212 Front Matter....Pages 213-213 The use of models in ecological risk assessment....Pages 215-231 A physiologically driven mathematical simulation model as a tool for extension of results from laboratory tests to ecosystem effects....Pages 233-250 Front Matter....Pages 251-251 Extrapolation of laboratory toxicity results to the field: a case study using the OECD artificial soil earthworm toxicity test....Pages 253-273 Life-table study with the springtail Folsomia candida ( Willem ) exposed to cadmium, chlorpyrifos and triphenyltin hydroxide ....Pages 275-291 Reaction norms for life history traits as the basis for the evaluation of critical effect levels of toxicants....Pages 293-304 Estimating fitness costs of pollution in iteroparous invertebrates....Pages 305-319 Front Matter....Pages 321-321 Soil ecotoxicology: still new ways to explore or just paving the road?....Pages 323-330 Back Matter....Pages 331-333