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Recovery of ecosystems and their components following exposure to pollution

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Journal of Aquatic Ecosystem Stress and Recovery

Abstract

Effective environmental management practices reduce anthropogenic chemical impacts in ecosystems and lead to the onset of recovery. Recovery proceeds at different rates and to different extents at each level of biological organisation (molecular, cellular,individual, population, community, ecosystem).Consequently, environmental assessments made at one level of organisation may not indicate the progress of recovery processes at other levels. The course of recovery of populations and communities is usually monitored using routine ecological procedures. As pollutant exposure often results in residual effects which may influence the subsequent ability of ecosystems and their components to respond to new environmental challenges, it is proposed that a more relevant strategy would be to measure biomarkers to assess recovery at the individual level and below,determine pollution induced community tolerance and analyse community composition.

It is also proposed that environmental managers aim tore-establish essential and desirable features of ecosystems (important structural components and functions (nutrient cycling, biodegradation rates,etc), restore biodiversity), rather than attempting to achieve full recovery, as the latter may waste valuable resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plymouth Environmental Research Centre, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, U.K.

    M.H. Depledge

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  1. M.H. Depledge
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Depledge, M. Recovery of ecosystems and their components following exposure to pollution. Journal of Aquatic Ecosystem Stress and Recovery 6, 199–206 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009927201663

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