Ecotoxicology, Ecological Risk Assessment and Multiple Stressors

The interaction between environment and health is far more complex than is commonly understood. In particular, little attention has been paid to the interaction of different pollutants in the human body as well as in the environment. Even low level exposure over a period of time to a complex cocktail of pollutants in air, water, food and consumer products is likely to contribute significantly to the health status of European citizens. The present book represents new knowlege both human and environmental risk assessment procedures and although it is generally acknowledged that chemical, biological, radiological, and other stressors can cause a variety of human health or ecological health effects, assessing the risks associated with them is considerably more complex methodologically and computationally than current risk assessment practices. The current book is designed to reduce the uncertainty in our current knowledge of ecotoxicology. Four basic topics it embraces are (I) The Science of Ecotoxicology, (II) Ecological Risk Assessment and Multiple Stressors, (III) Methods and Tools in Ecotoxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment and (IV) Ecotoxicology and Toxicity Monitoring