Ecological indicators for assessing freshwater ecosystem health

• Published in: Ecological modelling Vol. 116; no. 1; pp. 77 - 106
• Main Authors: Xu, Fu-Liu, Jørgensen, Sven Erik, Tao, Shu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.03.1999; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Buffer capacity; Chemical stress; Community structure; Ecological indicator; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Exergy; Food web function; Fresh water environment; Freshwater ecosystem health; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Structural exergy; Community structure; Buffer capacity; Ecological indicator; Food web function; Chemical stress; Exergy; Structural exergy; Freshwater ecosystem health; Algae; Pesticides; Acidification; Buffering capacity; Indicator; Petroleum; Stress; Marine environment; Chemical pollution; Food web; Ecosystem; Phytoplankton; Water pollution; Copper; Invertebrata; Environmental monitoring; Zooplankton; Thallophyta; Environment quality
• ISSN: 0304-3800; 1872-7026
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3800(98)00160-4

The paper presents the structural, functional and system-level symptoms of four chemical stresses, acidification, copper, oil and pesticide contamination in freshwater ecosystems. Exergy, structural exergy and zooplankton buffer capacity were used as ecological indicators for the measurement of ecosystem-level responses to the four chemical stresses. The results showed that the changes in ecosystem level were highly related to the changes in structure and function of the studied ecosystems and these changes indicated the effects of chemical stress on freshwater ecosystem health. Exergy, structural exergy and zooplankton buffer capacity followed the significant decline of zooplankton biomass, B z/ B p ratio, species richness or diversity and resource use efficiency, caused by chemical stress. A slight change in structure and function of local ecosystems, was accompanied by unchanged or slightly changed exergy, structural exergy and zooplankton buffer capacity. The results lead to a set of comprehensive ecological indicators for assessing the impacts of chemical stress on freshwater ecosystem health, including structural, functional and system-level indicators. These indicators were successfully applied to assess the health of a lake ecosystem.