Advances In Understanding The Ability Of Marine Communities And Ecosystems To Cope With Pollutants

Abstract

Environmental management and legislation in the 1970's identified maintenance of the health of marine communities and ecosystems as fundamental goals. Although this led to extensive research, development of techniques and theory concerning the biotic components of ecosystems has lagged behind developments in physics, chemistry and laboratory biology, which consequently drive pollution research. Community and ecosystem research has been handicapped by great natural variability and the practical limitations of field studies. Nonetheless, advances have been made in the synthesis of extensive individual observations in such areas as the effects of organic enrichment on the benthos. Ecosystem experiments such as allowed in microcosms and mesocosms offer hope for enhanced understanding. Major remaining challenges are development of robust models of the response of biotic communities to pollutants and assessment of the consequences of changes in community structure to ecosystem function and human society.