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.

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1 Ecological approaches in soil ecotoxicology.- One Extrapolation From Experiments.- 2 Scientific basis for extrapolating results from soil ecotoxicity tests to field conditions and the use of bioassays.- 3 Is it possible to develop microbial test systems to evaluate pollution effects on soil nutrient cycling?.- Two Populations in Soil.- 4 Ecotoxicology, biodiversity and the species concept with special reference to springtails (Insecta: Collembola).- 5 Effects of toxicants on population and community parameters in field conditions, and their potential use in the validation of risk assessment methods.- Three The Soil as an Ecosystem.- 6 Linking structure and function in marine sedimentary and terrestrial soil ecosystems: implications for extrapolation from the laboratory to the field.- 7 A food-web approach to assess the effects of disturbance on ecosystem structure, function and stability.- Four The Spatial Component of Soil Communities.- 8 Scale dependency in the ecological risks posed by pollutants: is there a role for ecological theory in risk assessment?.- 9 Dispersal, heterogeneity, and resistance: challenging soil quality assessment.- Five The Role of Ecological Modelling.- 10 The use of models in ecological risk assessment.- 11 A physiologically driven mathematical simulation model as a tool for extension of results from laboratory tests to ecosystem effects.- Six Ecological Approaches: Case Studies.- 12 Extrapolation of laboratory toxicity results to the field: a case study using the OECD artificial soil earthworm toxicity test.- 13 Life-table study with the springtail Folsomia candida (Willem) exposed to cadmium, chlorpyrifos and triphenyltin hydroxide.- 14 Reaction norms for life-history traits as the basis for the evaluation of critical effect levels of toxicants.- 15 Estimating fitness costs of pollution in iteroparous invertebrates.- Seven Recommendations.- 16 Soil ecotoxicology: still new ways to explore or just paving the road?.