Summary
This chapter considers the utility of biomarkers for monitoring environmental health in an extremely contaminated and polluted locality, the Kola Peninsula, in Northern Russia. Due to the extreme nature of the pollution, biomarkers have little place as predictors or to forewarn of likely damaging effects of contaminants in their respective ecosystems; the damage has been and continues to be done. Biomarkers can, however, be used to monitor and map the worst affected areas, and look for signs of recovery in areas that have been remediated or where pollution prevention controls have been put in place. There are various caveats in using biomarkers in such a fashion and these are discussed. The following text serves to give a simple overview of the implementation and reasoning for using biomarkers, suggest the type of material that one may wish to consider to monitor, and outlines a simple procedure or strategy for implementing such a survey.
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Weeks, J.M. et al. (1999). Report of the Working Group on the Strategy for the Implementation of a Biomarker Biomonitoring Programme in the Kola Peninsula, Russia. In: Peakall, D.B., Walker, C.H., Migula, P. (eds) Biomarkers: A Pragmatic Basis for Remediation of Severe Pollution in Eastern Europe. NATO Science Series, vol 54. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4550-3_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4550-3_16
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