Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology, 07745 Jena, Germany.
Freshwater Ecology and Management (FEM) Research Group, Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Institut de Recerca de l'Aigua (IdRA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2018 Dec 3;374(1764):20180007. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0007.
Human activities have globally increased and altered the ion concentration of freshwater ecosystems. The proliferation of potash mines in Germany (especially intense in the early 1900s) constitutes a good example of it. The effluents and runoff coming from potash mines led to extreme salt concentrations (e.g. 72 g l of total salt content, approx. 149 mS cm) in surrounding rivers and streams, causing ecosystem degradation (e.g. massive algal blooms and fish kills). This promoted scientific research that was mostly published in German, thereby being neglected by the wide scientific community. Here, the findings of the German literature on freshwater salinization are discussed in the light of current knowledge. German studies revealed that at similar ion concentrations potassium (K) can be the most toxic ion to freshwater organisms, whereas calcium (Ca) could have a toxicity ameliorating effect. Also, they showed that salinization could lead to biodiversity loss, major shifts in the composition of aquatic communities (e.g. dominance of salt-tolerant algae, proliferation of invasive species) and alter organic matter processing. The biological degradation caused by freshwater salinization related to potash mining has important management implications, e.g. it could prevent many European rivers and streams from reaching the good ecological status demanded by the Water Framework Directive. Within this context, German publications show several examples of salinity thresholds and biological indices that could be useful to monitor and regulate salinization (i.e. developing legally enforced salinity and ion-specific standards). They also provide potential management techniques (i.e. brine collection and disposal) and some estimates of the economic costs of freshwater salinization. Overall, the German literature on freshwater salinization provides internationally relevant information that has rarely been cited by the English literature. We suggest that the global editorial and scientific community should take action to make important findings published in non-English literature more widely available.This article is part of the theme issue 'Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects'.
人类活动已经在全球范围内增加并改变了淡水生态系统的离子浓度。德国钾矿的激增就是一个很好的例子（尤其是在 20 世纪初）。钾矿的废水和径流导致周围河流和溪流的盐浓度极高（例如总盐含量为 72g/L，约为 149mS/cm），从而导致生态系统退化（例如大量藻类大量繁殖和鱼类死亡）。这促进了科学研究，这些研究主要以德语发表，因此被广泛的科学界所忽视。在这里，根据当前的知识，讨论了德国关于淡水盐化作用的文献研究结果。德国的研究表明，在相似的离子浓度下，钾（K）可能是对淡水生物最有毒的离子，而钙（Ca）可能具有减轻毒性的作用。此外，他们还表明，盐化作用会导致生物多样性丧失，水生群落组成发生重大变化（例如，耐盐藻类的优势，入侵物种的增殖），并改变有机物质的处理。与钾矿开采有关的淡水盐化引起的生物降解具有重要的管理意义，例如，它可能会阻止许多欧洲河流和溪流达到《水框架指令》所要求的良好生态状态。在这种情况下，德国的出版物提供了几个盐度阈值和生物指标的例子，这些例子可以用于监测和调节盐化作用（即制定具有法律约束力的盐度和离子特异性标准）。它们还提供了一些潜在的管理技术（例如盐水收集和处理）以及淡水盐化的经济成本估算。总体而言，德国关于淡水盐化的文献提供了国际相关信息，而这些信息很少被英语文献引用。我们建议，全球编辑和科学界应该采取行动，使非英语文献中发表的重要发现更广泛地为人们所了解。本文是主题为“淡水中的盐：原因、生态后果和未来展望”的一部分。
