Harmonizing Aquatic EcosystemsHarmonizing Aquatic Ecosystems
Harmonizing Aquatic Ecosystems
In the Aquatic ecosystems, creating a harmonious ecosystem is more than just a visual masterpiece. Achieving balance and promoting the health of fish, plants, and other aquatic life requires knowledge, commitment, and practice. From the selection of the ideal tank to managing aggression and compatibility among tankmates, establishing and maintaining a healthy ecosystem is not for the faint of heart.
Innovative Technologies in Aquatic Ecosystem Management
The current version of USEtox addresses the impacts of chemicals on aquatic species and ecosystem quality using bioavailable chemical mass in freshwater as effect starting point. However, despite significant scientific advances since the release of USEtox in 2008, LCIA practitioners still struggle to incorporate a wide range of exposure and impact endpoints into their analyses due to limited resources and lack of available methodologies.
To provide LCIA users with a wide array of exposure and impact endpoints for their models, the development of a broader harmonization effort is needed. In particular, a characterization factor that goes beyond freshwater ecosystems (and thus the current EFw) is required to address other types of ecosystems such as marine and terrestrial.
This is critical as chemical contamination of the environment can result in a number of specific ecosystem damages including the elimination of sensitive species and replacement with less sensitive ones, changes in trophic-level interactions, and physiological and genetic adaptation (Medina et al. 2007). A broader approach to ecotoxicity characterization can help mitigate these specific effects by providing LCIA users with a more complete picture of the potential impacts of a substance on ecosystem quality.
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