Ecology of Industrial Pollution

by Edited by Lesley C. Batty , Kevin B. Hallberg

• ISBN13: 9780521730389
• ISBN10: 0521730384
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-03-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Written for researchers and practitioners in environmental pollution, management and ecology, this interdisciplinary account explores the ecological issues associated with industrial pollution to provide a complete picture of this important environmental problem from cause to effect to solution. Bringing together diverse viewpoints from academia and environmental agencies and regulators, the contributors cover such topics as biological resources of mining areas, biomonitoring of freshwater and marine ecosystems and risk assessment of contaminated land in order to explore important questions such as: What are the effects of pollutants on functional ecology and ecosystems? Do current monitoring techniques accurately signal the extent of industrial pollution? Does existing policy provide a coherent and practicable approach? Case studies from throughout the world illustrate major themes and provide valuable insights into the positive and negative effects of industrial pollution, the provision of appropriate monitoring schemes and the design of remediation and restoration strategies.

Author Biography

Lesley C. Batty is a Lecturer in Environmental Science at the University of Birmingham, UK. Her research focuses on ecological aspects of industrial pollution, particularly on the use of plants in remediation and the effects of mining activities on the environment. She is a council member of the British Ecological Society and has acted as a consultant to several government agencies and engineering companies within the UK. Kevin B. Hallberg is a Research Fellow in Environmental Microbiology at Bangor University, UK. His research focuses on the microbial ecology of extremophilic microorganisms, particularly the environmentally and industrially useful acidophiles. He has acted as a consultant for international mining companies as well as governmental regulatory agencies including the international Atomic Energy Agency.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xii
Consequences of living in an industrial world	p. 1
Metallophytes: the unique biological resource, its ecology and conservational status in Europe, central Africa and Latin America	p. 7
Lichens and industrial pollution	p. 41
The impacts of metalliferous drainage on aquatic communities in streams and rivers	p. 70
Impacts of emerging contaminants on the environment	p. 101
Ecological monitoring and assessment of pollution in rivers	p. 126
Detecting ecological effects of pollutants in the aquatic environment	p. 147
With the benefit of hindsight: the utility of palaeoecology in wetland condition assessment and identification of restoration targets	p. 162
An ecological risk assessment framework for assessing risks from contaminated land in England and Wales	p. 189
Diversity and evolution of micro-organisms and pathways for the degradation of environmental contaminants: a case study with the s-triazine herbicides	p. 205
The microbial ecology of land and water contaminated with radioactive waste: towards the development of bioremediation options for the nuclear industry	p. 226
The microbial ecology of remediating industrially contaminated land: sorting out the bugs in the system	p. 242
Ecological recovery in a river polluted to its sources: the River Tame in the English Midlands	p. 255
Manchester Ship Canal and Salford Quays: industrial legacy and ecological restoration	p. 276
Large-scale mine site restoration of Australian eucalypt forests after bauxite mining: soil management and ecosystem development	p. 309
Sustaining industrial activity and ecological quality: the potential role of an ecosystem services approach	p. 327
Index	p. 345
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