Table Of ContentEcotoxicology, Ecological Risk Assessment and
Multiple Stressors
NATO Security through Science Series
This Series presents the results of scientific meetings supported under the NATO
Programme for Security through Science (STS).
Meetings supported by the NATO STS Programme are in security-related priority areas of
Defence Against Terrorism or Countering Other Threats to Security.The types of meeting
supported are generally "Advanced Study Institutes" and "Advanced Research
Workshops".The NATO STS Series collects together the results of these meetings.The
meetings are co-organized by scientists from NATO countries and scientists from NATO's
"Partner" or "Mediterranean Dialogue" countries.The observations and recommendations
made at the meetings, as well as the contents of the volumes in the Series, reflect those of
participants and contributors only;they should not necessarily be regarded as reflecting
NATO views or policy.
Advanced Study Institutes (ASI) are high-level tutorial courses to convey the latest
developments in a subject to an advanced-level audience
Advanced Research Workshops (ARW) are expert meetings where an intense but
informal exchange of views at the frontiers of a subject aims at identifying directions for
future action
Following a transformation of the programme in 2004 the Series has been re-named and
re-organised. Recent volumes on topics not related to security, which result from meetings
supported under the programme earlier, may be found in the NATO Science Series.
The Series is published by IOS Press, Amsterdam, Dordrecht, in conjunction with the
NATO Public Diplomacy Division.
Sub-Series
A.Chemistry and Biology Springer
B.Physics and Biophysics Springer
C.Environmental Security Springer
D.Information and Communication Security IOS Press
E.Human and Societal Dynamics IOS Press
http://www.nato.int/science
http://www.springer.com
http://www.iospress.nl
Series IV: Earth and Environmental Series – Vol.6
Ecotoxicology, Ecological Risk
Assessment and Multiple
Stressors
edited by
Gerassimos Arapis
Agricultural University of Athens,
Greece
Nadezhda Goncharova
International Sakharov Environmental University Minsk
Belarus
and
Philippe Baveye
Cornell University Ithaca, New York,
U.S.A.
Published in cooperation with NATO Public Diplomacy Division
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on
Ecotoxicology, Ecological Risk Assessment and MultipleStressors
Poros, Gre ece
12- 15 October 2004
A C.I.P.Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN-10 1-4020-4475-5 (PB)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4475-5 (PB)
ISBN-10 1-4020-4474-7 (HB)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4474-8 (HB)
ISBN-10 1-4020-4476-3 (e-book)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4476-2 (e-book)
Published by Springer,
P.O.Box 17, 3300 AADordrecht, The Netherlands.
www.springer.com
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 2006 Springer
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording
or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any
material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a
computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
Printed in the Netherlands.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface............................................................................................................................ ix
Contributors............................................................................................................... xiii
Part I. The Science of Ecotoxicology: Establishing the International Basis
for Ecological Risk Assessment
Current Developments in Ecotoxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment......... 3
Lawrence A. Kapustka
From Molecule to Ecosystems: Ecotoxicological Approaches and
Perspectives.........................................................................................................25
Gerassimos D. Arapis
Protecting the Environment against Ionizing Radiation: The Path Proposed
by “ICRP”, its Origins and Analysis...................................................................41
François Brechignac
Ecoepidemiology: A Means to Safeguard Ecosystem Services that Sustain
Human Welfare...................................................................................................57
Susan M. Cormier
Perchlorate: Ecological and Human Health Effects............................................73
Jacquelyn Clarkson, Shawn Sager, Betty Locey, Lu Yu, and
Eric Silberhorn
Genetic Ecotoxicology and Risk Assessment: An Overview.............................95
Nadezhda V. Goncharova
Part II. Ecological Risk Assessment and Multiple Stressors
Scientific Basis for Ecotoxicology, Ecological Risk Assessment
and Multiple Stressors: Canadian Experience in Defining Acceptable
Risk Levels for Infrastructure...........................................................................109
Ruth N. Hull
Risk Assessment in Romania: From Legislation to Needs and Possibilities ....125
Constantin-Horia Barbu, Adrian Morariu, Camelia Sand, and
Sorin Giurgiu
vi Table of Contents
Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment for Plant Protection Products in Europe...137
Manousos Foudoulakis
Assessment of Ecological Risk Caused by the Long-Living
Radionuclides in the Environment....................................................................155
Valery Kashparov
Effects of Contaminant Exposure on Plants: Implications for
Ecotoxicology and Radiological Protection of the Environment.....................165
Stanislav A. Geras’kin, Alla. A. Oudalova, Vladimir G. Dikarev, Denis
V. Vasiliev, and Nina S. Dikareva
Risk Assessment: Radioactive Contaminated Food Products and Exposure
Dose of the Population......................................................................................181
Nadezhda V. Goncharova and Darya A. Bairasheuskaya
Part III. Methods and Tools in Ecotoxicology and Ecological Risk
Assessment
A Habitat Suitability Evaluation Technique and its Application to
Environmental Risk Assessment.......................................................................193
Alexander Grebenkov, Alexei Lukashevich, Igor Linkov, and Lawrence
Kapustka
The QnD Model/Game System: Integrating Questions and Decisions for
Multiple Stressors..............................................................................................203
Gregory Kiker and Igor Linkov
The Medaka Fish: An Experimental Model in Environmental
Toxicology Its Use for the Survey of Microalgal Toxins: Phycotoxins
and Cyanotoxins................................................................................................227
Simone Puiseux-Dao and Marc Edery
Cytogenetic Effect of Radioactive or Chemical Contamination on Spring
Barley Intercalary Meristems Cells...................................................................243
Stanislav Geras’kin, Jin Kyu Kim, Vladimir Dikarev, Alla Oudalova,
Nina Dikareva, and Yevgeniy Spirin
Water Pollution Indicators of Sustainability in Europe and their
Application to Coastal Water Quality Evaluation in Italy................................255
Elena Comino
Application of GIS Technologies in Ecotoxicology: a Radioecological
Case Study.........................................................................................................269
Nataliya Grytsyuk,Vasiliy Davydchuk, and Gerassimos Arapis
Table of Contents vii
Ambient Ozone Phytodetection with Sensitive Clover (Trifolium
Subterraneum L. Cv. Geraldton) in Ukraine.....................................................279
Oleg Blum and Nataliya Didyk
Part IV. Ecotoxicology and Toxicity Monitoring
Alterations of Agroecosystems in Greece Through Pesticide Use. The
«Phalaris Case».................................................................................................293
George Vassiliou, Christos Alexoudis, and Spyridon Koutroubas
Contribution to Ecological Safety Through Segmented Integrated Pest
Management in Greece......................................................................................299
George Vassiliou
A Preliminary Study of Toxicity by Bioassay of the Wastes of Pulp and
Paper Production Units......................................................................................307
Nikolaos Venetsaneas and Joan Iliopoulou-Georgudaki
Air Pollution Assessment in Volos Coastal Town, Greece..............................317
Nelly Riga-Karandinos, Konstantinos Saitanis, and Gerassimos Arapis
Tropospheric Ozone Measurements in the Tatra Mountains
and Its Effects on Plants....................................................................................325
Barbara Godzik and Peter Fleischer
Long-Term Monitoring of Tropospheric Ozone in Kyiv,
Ukraine: Formation, Temporal Patterns and Potential Adverse Effects...........337
Oleg Blum
Part V. Working Group Summaries
Hints on Ecotoxicology and Ethics...................................................................347
Michael G. Karandinos
A Framework for Multi-Criteria Decision-Making With Special Reference to
Critical Infrastructure: Policy and Risk Management Working Group
Summary and Recommendations......................................................................355
Ruth Hull, David Belluck, and Clive Lipchin
Methods and Tools in Ecotoxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment.
Working group Summary..................................................................................371
Lawrence A. Kapustka, Nadezhda V. Goncharova, and
Gerrassimos D. Arapis
Subject Index...............................................................................................................379
PREFACE
The science of ecotoxicology and the practice of ecological risk assessment
are evolving rapidly. Ecotoxicology as a subject area came into prominence in
the 1960s after the publication of Rachel Carson's book on the impact of
pesticides on the environment. The rise of public and scientific concern for the
effects of chemical pollutants on the environment in the 1960s and 1970s led to
the development of the discipline of ecotoxicology, a science that takes into
account the effects of chemicals in the context of ecology.
Until the early 1980s, in spite of public concern and interest among
scientists, the assessment of ecological risks associated with natural or synthetic
pollutants was not considered a priority issue by most government. However, as
the years passed, a better understanding of the importance of ecotoxicology
emerged and with it, in some countries, the progressive formalization of an
ecological risk assessment process. Ecological risk assessment is a conceptual
tool for organizing and analyzing data and information to evaluate the
likelihood that one or more stressors are causing or will cause adverse
ecological effects. Ecological risk assessment allows risk managers to consider
available scientific information when selecting a course of action, in addition to
other factors that may affect their decision (e.g., social, legal, political, or
economic).
Ecological risk assessment includes three phases (problem formulation,
analysis, and risk characterization). Within the problem formulation phase,
important areas include identifying goals and assessment endpoints, preparing a
conceptual model, and developing an analysis plan. The analysis phase involves
evaluating exposure to stressors and the relationship between stressor levels and
ecological effects. In risk characterization, key elements are estimating risk
through integration of exposure and stressor-response profiles, describing risk
by discussing lines of evidence and determining ecological adversity, and
preparing a report. Ecological risk assessment is a quasi-scientific
administrative procedure that uses scientific data in an administrative process to
inform decision-makers of the potential risks posed by one or more chemicals.
As with any conceptual tool, the ecological risk assessment process has a
number of limitations and rests on a set of assumptions, for example related to
the uncertainties associated with single stressors for which detailed
ecotoxicological data are lacking, or with risks arising in the presence of
mixtures of pollutants.
One particular area in which conventional ecological risk assessment and
ecotoxicology evaluation tools lack appropriate guidance and analytical tools,
concerns the acceptable risks and habitat alteration levels needed to
accommodate critical infrastructure and environmental security needs. Critical
infrastructure is defined as the man-made structures constructed and managed
to assure human health, environmental protection, transportation, water
supplies, clean air, food supplies and other critical elements necessary to
maintain economic prosperity and national security. Critical infrastructure
x Preface
includes national security installations, transportation infrastructure, residential
infrastructure, ports and railway facilities, and communications infrastructure.
Given increased population pressures in most NATO and Affiliate countries to
assure sustainable development, given increased regulatory controls, increased
public participation, and (at least in the U.S.) ever increasing threats of
litigation, it is becoming crucial to define acceptable ecological risk levels and
habitat alterations to accommodate critical impingement on the environment.
In this general context, we decided to organize a NATO Advanced Research
Workshop, in which an international group of scientists would elaborate a
definition of allowable ecosystem disruption and habitat alteration associated
with the implantation of critical infrastructure, as part of the sustainable
development of a given region or country. The idea was to bring together,
around the same table, leading scientists and practitioners from various
horizons and with different philosophical orientations, to reflect on the
definition of allowable ecosystem disruption and habitat alteration, and to
evaluate the scientific foundation on which this definition should be based. Our
hope was that such an ARW would provide a unique opportunity not only for
participants to integrate scientific information from different sources, but also
to make the science of ecotoxicology and the process of ecological risk
assessment evolve to a level where they provide governments and citizens a
platform on which to base sound decision making on environmental issues and
sustainable development.
The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on “Ecotoxicology, Ecological
Risk Assessment and Multiple Stressors” took place from the 13th to the 16th
of October 2004, in the beautiful island of Poros (Greece). Thirty participants,
from 12 countries, attended in the ARW, 18 of whom delivered plenary
lectures. Participants originated from a variety of work environments, e.g.,
government agencies, industry, private consulting firms, and academia.
Between lectures, question and answer sessions and informal poster
presentations stimulated very lively discussions among participants, extending
sometimes until late in the evening. The ARW participants were organized into
two working groups focused on “Methods and tools in ecotoxicology and
ecological risk assessment” and “Multi-criteria decision-making with special
reference to critical infrastructure: Policy and risk management”. Each Working
Group was co-chaired by both Western and Eastern scientists, and was
mandated to come up with a report, which was presented to the whole group for
discussion.
Manuscripts based on the lectures presented at the ARW were revised to
take into account ARW participants’ comments and suggestions, and went
through a round of peer review and editing. They are grouped in the present
book among four main themes, which parallel those of the ARW and
correspond to a progression from theoretical principles to practical applications
to methods for field monitoring (see Table of Contents for details). Discussion
summaries and practical recommendations, emanating from the two working
groups, are provided in separate chapters at the end of the book.
Preface xi
Our hope is that the various chapters in this book will provide to individuals
who could not attend the ARW in Poros a chance to reflect on some of the
issues described during the lectures, as well as a feel for some of the
discussions that took place during the workshop. This, hopefully, will
encourage readers to discuss these issues further with the authors of the various
chapters.
Publication of this book would not have been possible without the extremely
helpful assistance and the encouragements of Dr. Larry Kapustka, Dr. Igor
Linkov and Mrs. Ruth Hull. D arya Bairasheuskaya and Victoria Putyrskaya
doctoral students at the International Sakharov Environmental University
and Pablo Monreal doctoral student at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne
provided, commendable assistance with the editing and formatting oft hechapters.
Since regratitu de is al so express ed toward Mrs. Wil Bruins of Springer, Mrs.
Deniz Beten and Dr. Alain Jubier, directors of NATO’s Scientific Affairs ,
Divisionand to her administrative assistant, Miss. Lynn Campbell- Nolan, for
their infallible and stimulating support.
Finally we thank all the partcipants in theis ARW for their valuable
contributions and for the many stimulating discussions which ensued.
The editors:
Gerassimos Arapis
Nadezhda Goncharova
Philippe Baveye
