Centre for Fish and Wildlife Health, Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern , PO Box 8466, CH-3001 Bern, Switzerland.
Environ Sci Technol. 2014 Jul 15;48(14):7690-6. doi: 10.1021/es405082t. Epub 2014 Jun 26.
Aquatic ecosystems are confronted with multiple stress factors. Current approaches to assess the risk of anthropogenic stressors to aquatic ecosystems are developed for single stressors and determine stressor effects primarily as a function of stressor properties. The cumulative impact of several stressors, however, may differ markedly from the impact of the single stressors and can result in nonlinear effects and ecological surprises. To meet the challenge of diagnosing and predicting multiple stressor impacts, assessment strategies should focus on properties of the biological receptors rather than on stressor properties. This change of paradigm is required because (i) multiple stressors affect multiple biological targets at multiple organizational levels, (ii) biological receptors differ in their sensitivities, vulnerabilities, and response dynamics to the individual stressors, and (iii) biological receptors function as networks, so that actions of stressors at disparate sites within the network can lead via indirect or cascading effects, to unexpected outcomes.
水生生态系统面临着多种压力因素。目前评估人为压力源对水生生态系统风险的方法是针对单一压力源开发的，并主要根据压力源特性来确定压力源效应。然而，几种压力源的累积影响可能与单一压力源的影响有明显的不同，并且可能导致非线性效应和生态惊喜。为了应对诊断和预测多种压力源影响的挑战，评估策略应侧重于生物受体的特性，而不是压力源的特性。这种范式的转变是必要的，因为（i）多种压力源会在多个组织水平上影响多个生物靶标，（ii）生物受体对单个压力源的敏感性、脆弱性和反应动力学存在差异，以及（iii）生物受体作为网络发挥作用，因此网络内不同位置的压力源的作用可以通过间接或级联效应导致意想不到的结果。
