Strategies and Advanced Techniques for Marine Pollution Studies: Mediterranean Sea (Nato ASI Subseries G:, 9)

A distinction between contamination and pollution is useful when we wish to consider what strategies to adopt in researching the impact of anthropogenic activities on the marine environment. Contamination strictly refers to the chemical burden imposed on the system and is evaluated in terms of the concentrations of chemical compounds in various abiotic (e. g water, suspended particulate matter, sediments) and biotic (plant and animal, pelagic and benthic) components. The concept of pollution, on the other hand, infers an assessment of biological response to the measured levels of contamination. This response may be measured at various levels of biological organisation, from molecular events within the cell to changes in such ecosystem properties as nutrient flux and biological productivity. Such measures of biological response need not infer any value judgements regarding putative damage or disturbance to the natural systems, although the biologist will usually have in mind a reference point of normality with which to compare the measured response; departure from this "normality" may then provide a quantitiative index of disturbance. The challenge to scientists engaged in research into marine contamination and pollution is to weld the chemical and biological elements together (always with reference also to the physical features of the environment) so as to provide a coherent framework for the quantitative evaluation of environmental response. Front Matter....Pages I-XIII The Assimilative Capacity of the Oceans for Wastes....Pages 1-8 Information Systems and Scientometric Study in Chemical Oceanography....Pages 9-31 Strategies and Approaches to Marine Pollution Research....Pages 33-41 Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy: A New Analytical Tool for the Analysis of Environmental Pollutants....Pages 43-76 High Resolution Emission Spectroscopy (Shpolskii Effect): A New Analytical Technique for the Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) in Marine Samples....Pages 77-87 Marine Analysis Using a Rapid Scanning Multichannel Fluorometer....Pages 89-102 Analyses of Yellow Substance in the Coastal Waters of the Adriatic Sea....Pages 103-112 Fossil Fuel Aromatic Hydrocarbon Biogeochemistry in the Marine Environment: Research Challenges....Pages 113-142 The Importance of Intercalibration in Marine Pollution Studies....Pages 143-156 Strategies of Sampling and Analysis for Studying the Hydrocarbon Pollution at the Water-Atmosphere Interface....Pages 157-186 Assessing the Contribution of Atmospheric Transport to the Total Pollution Load of the Mediterranean Sea: Facts and Models....Pages 187-199 Site Specific Studies of Petroleum Operations in the Marine Environment....Pages 201-207 Sampling Organic Compounds for Marine Pollution Studies....Pages 209-230 Organic Pollutants in the Sea: Consequences, Evaluation, and Sampling Strategies in the Pelagic Area....Pages 231-236 Sources of Organic Contaminants in the Marine Environment: Ocean Disposal and Accidental Spills....Pages 237-288 Useful and Easy to Apply Indicators of Petroleum Pollution in the Marine Environment....Pages 289-301 Our Changing View of Contamination....Pages 303-313 Environmental Impact Studies of Refinery Effluents - A Challenge to the Analytical Chemist....Pages 315-326 Evolution of the Amoco-Cadiz Hydrocarbons in the River Aber-Benoit....Pages 327-356 Biodegradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons....Pages 357-404 Ecotoxicological Testing for the Marine Environment....Pages 405-416 Molecular and Cellular Indices of Pollutant Effects....Pages 417-435 Remarks on the problem of station selection in ecotoxicological studies in the case of oil spills....Pages 437-446 The Sea Urchin Bioassay in Testing Pollutants....Pages 447-455 Metabolic Pathways of a Naphtenic Hydrocarbon (Dodecylcyclohexane) in Rainbow Trout....Pages 457-460 Induction of Ultrastructural Alterations in the Digestive Gland of Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck) by Crude Oil....Pages 461-462 Effects of Water Soluble Petroleum Compounds on the Fatty Acids Composition of Phytoplankton....Pages 463-464 Back Matter....Pages 465-477 Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Strategies and Advanced Techniques for Marine Pollution Studies, Mediterranian Sea held at Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France, October 4-14, 1984