[Search form] [Info about the database] [Search tips]

No 1 / 1

The utility of a hard bottom mesocosmos for ecological hazard assessment

Date: 1.1.1995-31.12.1998
Code: 9750
Department: Åbo Akademi University / Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MNF), Dept. of Biology
Address: BioCity, Artillerigatan 6, FIN-20520 Åbo
Phone +358-2-2154 070
Fax +358-2-2154 748
E-mail pkraufve@abo.fi
Project leader: FM Patrik Kraufvelin, doktorand (1.1.1995-31.12.1998)
Type of research: 0 (0=Within duty, 1=Ordered research, 2=Co-operation)
- basic research 80 %
- applied research 10 %
- developmental work 10 %
Finnish funding organizations: Undervisningsministeriet (Forskarskola: Miljöriskbedömning - vatten) FIM 100000
Man months: 12 months in 1997; Totally: 48 months
Keywords: vattenekosystem, Östersjön, vesiekosysteemit, Itämeri, modellekosystem, Östersjön, blåstångsfauna, replikerbarhet, ekologisk realism, vattenekosystem, hårdbottenekologi, ekologisk samhällsstruktur, statistik, experimentell design, pseudoreplikering, mesocosm, Baltic Sea, bladder-wrack macrofauna, replicability, ecological realism, aquatic ecosystems, wrack macrofauna, community structure, statistics, experimental design, pseudoreplication, marine ecology,

The project is an evaluation of the replicability [repeatability, reproducibility] and ecological realism of a land-based mesocosm, mimicking the littoral hard bottom zone of the Baltic Sea.This mesocosm has been used in both Sweden and Finland during almost 25 years for ecotoxicological testing of various pollutants, but due to vast deficiencies in experimental design and statistical analysis no real causa-effect relationships have still been established.The project presents results from the ecological community structure in unpolluted controls from 1989-1992, with the help of which an optimal experimental design and other improvements can be suggested for this and similar complex test systems.Among others the variability between replicated controls has been examined and detectable differences between controls and treatments, as well as a minimum number of replicates required, have been calculated.Furthermore the repeatability, i.e. the similarity between unpolluted controls from different years, has been studied, which is of special importance in extrapolation to natural conditions and in environmental risk assessment procedures.Next part of the project will be an examination of the ecological realism, i.e. the similarity between these artificial ecosystems and natural ecosystem [the mother system in the field].

Publication(s)

16.2.1996 / 19.11.1997