Freshwater and marine ecosystems are exposed to various multi-component mixtures of pollutants. Nevertheless, most ecotoxicological research and chemicals regulation focus on hazard and exposure assessment of individual substances only, the problem of chemical mixtures in the environment is ignored to a large extent. In contrast, the assessment of combination effects has a long tradition in pharmacology, where mixtures of chemicals are specifically designed to develop new products, e.g. human and veterinary drugs or agricultural and non-agricultural pesticides. In this area, two concepts are frequently used and are thought to describe fundamental relationships between single substance and mixture effects: Independent Action (Response Addition) and Concentration Addition. The question, to what extent these concepts may also be applied in an ecotoxicological and regulatory context may be considered a research topic of major importance, as the concepts would allow to make use of already existing single substance toxicity data for the predictive assessment of mixture toxicities. Two critical knowledge gaps are identified: (a) There is a lack of environmental realism, as a huge part of our current knowledge about the applicability of the concepts is restricted to artificial situations with respect to mixture composition or biological effect assessment. (b) The knowledge on what exactly is needed for using the concepts as tools for the predictive mixture toxicity assessment is insufficient. Both gaps seriously hamper the necessary, scientifically sound consideration of mixture toxicities in a regulatory context.In this paper, the two concepts will be briefly introduced, the necessity of considering the toxicities of chemical mixtures in the environment will be demonstrated and the applicability of Independent Action and Concentration Addition as tools for the prediction and assessment of mixture toxicities will be discussed. An overview of the specific aims and approaches of the BEAM project to fill in the identified knowledge gaps is given and first results are outlined. 相似文献
In this paper we use a combination of numerical modeling and data analysis to gain a better understanding of the major characteristics
of the circulation in the East Frisian Wadden Sea. In particular, we concentrate on the asymmetry of the tidal wave and its
modulation in the coastal area, which results in a complex pattern of responses to the sea-level forcing from the North Sea.
The numerical simulations are based on the 3-D primitive equation General Estuarine Transport Model (GETM) with a horizontal
resolution of 200 m and terrain-following vertical coordinates. The model is forced at its open boundaries with sea-level
data from an operational model for the German Bight (German Hydrographic Office). The validation data for our model simulations
include time series of tidal gauge data and surface currents measured at a pile in the back-barrier basin of the Island Langeoog,
as well as several ADCP transects in the Accumer Ee tidal inlet.
Circulation and turbulence characteristics are investigated for typical situations driven by spring and neap tides, and the
analysis is focused on dominating temporal and spatial patterns. By investigating the response of five back-barrier basins
with rather different morphologies to external forcing, an attempt is made to elucidate the dominating physical balances controlling
the circulation in the individual sub-basins. It is demonstrated that the friction at the seabed tends to slow down the tidal
signal in the shallow water. This leads to the establishment of flood dominance in the shallow sea north of the barrier islands.
South of the islands, where the water volume of the channels at low tide is smaller than the tidal prism, the asymmetry of
the tidal signal is shifted towards ebb dominance, a feature which is particularly pronounced at spring tide.
At the northern open boundary, the tidal wave propagating from west to east generates a sea-level difference of ∼1 m along
the boundary, and thereby triggers vigorous alongshore currents. The frictional control in the model is located in the inlets,
as well as along the northern boundary. The correlation between velocity and turbulent kinetic energy tends to the establishment
of a net southward transport, giving theoretical support to the observed accumulation of sediments on the intertidal flats.
Weak turbulence along the northern shores of the barrier islands and the small magnitude of the residual currents there promote
accumulation of suspended matter in these areas, although wave action will generally counteract this effect.
Received: 29 May 2002 / Accepted: 26 September 2002
Responsible Editor: Jean-Marie Beckers
Acknowledgements We are indebted to S. Dick for providing the data from the operational model of BSH and to B. Flemming for the useful discussions.
The topography data and Fig. 1 have been prepared in cooperation with F. Meyer. Figure 2 has been prepared by G. Brink-Spalink.
We also thank for the comments from an anonymous reviewer which helped to improve our paper. 相似文献
Groundwater bores act as traps. Net samplers are regularly used for sampling this type of trap for fauna. To enable direct comparisons of faunal communities in groundwater bores and stream sediments, stream sediment tubes were built similar to groundwater bores and were sampled with net samplers for fauna. These stream sediment tubes consisted of a tube anchored in the stream sediment, also called interstitial space. To test the efficacy of this trap method in stream sediments, it was compared to another type of trap, Hahn's trap. Faunal communities sampled by a net in the stream sediment tubes did not differ hugely from fauna in Hahn's trap samples. Physical and chemical factors of sampled water in both the stream sediment tubes, the surrounding interstitial sediments and the second type of traps, Hahn's traps, showed that water in both the tubes and Hahn's traps was closely related to interstitial water. The net sampler is inexpensive and easy to handle. It is suggested that sampling stream tubes with nets may be an appropriate method for long‐term monitoring studies. 相似文献
In the study of soil erosion, specifically on detachment of soil particles by raindrop impact, kinetic energy is a commonly suggested indicator of the raindrop's ability to detach soil particles from the soil mass. Since direct measurement of kinetic energy requires sophisticated and costly instruments, the alternative approach is to estimate it from rainfall intensity. The present study aims at establishing a relationship between rainfall intensity and kinetic energy for rainfalls in Central Cebu, Philippines as a preface of a wider regional investigation.
Drop size distributions of rainfalls were measured using the disdrometer RD-80. There are two forms of kinetic energy considered here. One is kinetic energy per unit area per unit time (KER, J m−2 h−1) and the other is kinetic energy per unit area per unit depth (KE, J m−2 mm−1). Relationships between kinetic energy per unit area per unit time (KER) and rainfall intensity (I) were obtained using linear and power relations. The exponential model and the logarithmic model were fitted to the KE–I data to obtain corresponding relationships between kinetic energy per unit area per unit depth of rainfall (KE) and rainfall intensity (I). The equation obtained from the exponential model produced smaller standard error of estimates than the logarithmic model. 相似文献
Denitrification rates along a salinity gradient in the eutrophic Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, were quantified using
membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) within short-term batch incubations. Denitrification rates within the system were
highly variable, ranging from 0 to 275 μmol N m−2 h−1. Intrasite variability increased with salinity, but no significant differences were observed across the salinity gradient.
Denitrification rates were positively correlated with sediment oxygen demand at the upstream sampling site where sediment
organic carbon levels were lowest. This relationship was not observed in the more saline sampling sites. Denitrification rates
were highest during winter. On an annual basis, denitrification accounted for 26% of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen and
12% of the total nitrogen supplied to the system. 相似文献