Development of Laboratory Model Ecosystems as Early Warning Elements of Environmental Pollution.

摘要

To date the authors have studied the fate of approximately 100 organic compounds in the several types of model ecosystems described. The use of the model ecosystem technology provides a relatively simple way to measure the environmental toxicology and degradation pathways for new compounds in a variety of organisms. Model ecosystems are invaluable for screening new compounds for environmental persistence and degradation to demonstrate which of many possible derivatives or modifications are least hazardous to environmental quality. Model ecosystems provide the only practical way to study the complex interactions involved in the biological behavior of mixtures of environmental pollutants. Finally, model ecosystem studies are unusually graphic and visually appealing and have considerable teaching value for study of the problems of environmental micropollution.