Marine Mammal Ecotoxicology

Marine Mammal Ecotoxicology: Impacts of Multiple Stressors on Population Health provides tactics on how to develop a comprehensive methodology for the study of existing threats to marine mammals. By presenting a conservation-biology approach and new and emerging technologies, this work helps provide crucial knowledge on the status of marine mammal populations that not only helps readers understand the ecosystem’s health, but also instigate mitigation measures. This volume provides information that helps investigators unravel the relationships between exposure to environmental stressors (e.g., climate change, pollutants, marine litter, pathogens and biotoxins) and a range of endpoints in marine mammal species. The application of robust examination procedures and biochemical, immunological, and molecular techniques, combined with pathological examination and feeding ecology, has led to the development of health assessment methods at the individual and population levels in wild marine mammals. Provides a comprehensive, worldwide update and state of knowledge on current research and topics on marine mammal ecotoxicology Includes coverage of both new and emerging technologies Features a multidisciplinary approach that gives readers a broad, updated overview of the threats facing marine mammals and related conservation measures

The activities of modern society have unleashed a range of toxic chemicals into the global environment. Many of these toxicants are now being detected in increasing quantities in the tissues of marine mammals, most notably in top predators who acquire relatively large amounts of toxic chemicals by ingesting contaminated prey. Toxicology of M

This landmark book, which contains contributions from the world's foremost mammalian ecotoxicologists, is a truly impressive summary of research undertaken in this field in recent years. It is also the first book to draw such information together in a seamless and unified approach. In examining the exposure and effects of environmental contaminants in wild mammal populations, this book addresses four core questions: * What exactly do we know about environmental contaminants in wild mammals? * What are the commonalities and differences between mammal orders/species in the effects that contaminants have? * How and to what degree of accuracy can we predict the adverse effects of environmental contaminants on mammalian wildlife? * How significant are contaminant insults compared with other density-independent and -dependent factors such as habitat loss, climatic factors and disease? The key underlying scientific principles and issues raised by the team of international authors will have significance throughout the world, making this an invaluable book not only for all those studying the effects of environmental pollutants on mammals, but also on regulatory agencies, and those carrying out environmental impact assessment.

Marine mammals face a large array of stressors, including loss of habitat, chemical and noise pollution, and bycatch in fishing, which alone kills hundreds of thousands of marine mammals per year globally. To discern the factors contributing to population trends, scientists must consider the full complement of threats faced by marine mammals. Once populations or ecosystems are found to be at risk of adverse impacts, it is critical to decide which combination of stressors to reduce to bring the population or ecosystem into a more favorable state. Assessing all stressors facing a marine mammal population also provides the environmental context for evaluating whether an additional activity could threaten it. Approaches to Understanding the Cumulative Effects of Stressors on Marine Mammals builds upon previous reports to assess current methodologies used for evaluating cumulative effects and identify new approaches that could improve these assessments. This review focuses on ways to quantify exposure-related changes in the behavior, health, or body condition of individual marine mammals and makes recommendations for future research initiatives.

Marine Ecotoxicology: Current Knowledge and Future Issues is the first unified resource to cover issues related to contamination, responses, and testing techniques of saltwater from a toxicological perspective. With its unprecedented focus on marine environments and logical chapter progression, this book is useful to graduate students, ecotoxicologists, risk assessors, and regulators involved or interested in marine waters. As human interaction with these environments increases, understanding of the pollutants and toxins introduced into the oceans becomes ever more critical, and this book builds a foundation of knowledge to assist scientists in studying, monitoring, and making decisions that affect both marine environments and human health. A team of world renowned experts provide detailed analyses of the most common contaminants in marine environments and explain the design and purpose of toxicity testing methods, while exploring the future of ecotoxicology studies in relation to the world’s oceans. As the threat of increasing pollution in marine environments becomes an ever more tangible reality, Marine Ecotoxicology offers insights and guidance to mitigate that threat. Provides practical tools and methods for assessing and monitoring the accumulation and effects of contaminants in marine environments Unites world renowned experts in marine ecotoxicology to deliver thorough and diverse perspectives Builds the foundation required for risk assessors and regulators to adequately assess and monitor the impact of pollution in marine environments Offers helpful insights and guidance to graduate students, ecotoxicologists, risk assessors, and regulators interested in mitigating threats to marine waters

This book presents a comprehensive review of the most recent studies on the impact of contaminants on the marine environment. Conventional and new information, as well as the latest techniques, are presented, which can be applied to several types of marine organisms from bacteria and fungi to animals and algae. Specific topics discussed include the impact of different contaminants on different organisms as well as different approaches and their outcomes in terms of impact assessment. The integration of these techniques is also discussed in order to attain sentinel species and biomarkers to be applied for assessing ecological quality and impact assessment programs and studies.

With the expansion of human settlements and the environmental changes brought on by human activity and pollutants, toxicology and risk assessment of mammal species is becoming increasingly of interest to toxicologists involved in environmental research. This book focuses specifically on environmental risk assessment in marsupial and placental mammals. Marsupial ecotoxicology is poorly understood in scientific research and as such environmental risk assessment in marsupials is an area of rapidly growing interest. This book will be an ideal companion to toxicologists and ecologists interested in risk assessment in the environments of mammals. Particularly those with an interest in the impact introduced by human activity. The book will also be of interest to those working in conservation biology, biological invasion, biocontrol and habitat management.