Beketov Mikhail A, Liess Matthias
UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of System Ecotoxicology, Permoserstrasse 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany.
Environ Pollut. 2008 Dec;156(3):980-7. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2008.05.005. Epub 2008 Jun 10.
Distinguishing between effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental factors on ecosystems is a fundamental problem in environmental science. In river systems the longitudinal gradient of environmental factors is one of the most relevant sources of dissimilarity between communities that could be confounded with anthropogenic disturbances. To test the hypothesis that in macroinvertebrate communities the distribution of species' sensitivity to organic toxicants is independent of natural longitudinal factors, but depends on contamination with organic toxicants, we analysed the relationship between community sensitivity SPEAR(organic) (average community sensitivity to organic toxicants) and natural and anthropogenic environmental factors in a large-scale river system, from alpine streams to a lowland river. The results show that SPEAR(organic) is largely independent of natural longitudinal factors, but strongly dependent on contamination with organic toxicants (petrochemicals and synthetic surfactants). Usage of SPEAR(organic) as a stressor-specific longitude-independent measure will facilitate detection of community disturbance by organic toxicants.
区分自然和人为环境因素对生态系统的影响是环境科学中的一个基本问题。在河流系统中，环境因素的纵向梯度是群落间差异的最相关来源之一，而这种差异可能会与人为干扰相混淆。为了验证这一假设，即在大型无脊椎动物群落中，物种对有机毒物的敏感性分布与自然纵向因素无关，而是取决于有机毒物的污染情况，我们分析了在一个从高山溪流到低地河流的大型河流系统中，群落敏感性SPEAR(有机)(群落对有机毒物的平均敏感性)与自然和人为环境因素之间的关系。结果表明，SPEAR(有机)在很大程度上与自然纵向因素无关，但强烈依赖于有机毒物(石化产品和合成表面活性剂)的污染。将SPEAR(有机)用作特定于压力源的、与经度无关的指标，将有助于检测有机毒物对群落的干扰。
