In aquatic ecosystems, the oligochaetes are often a major component of the community. Their relevance in sediment quality assessment is largely related to their benthic and detritivorous life habit. In this book, we aim to present the state of the art of Pollution Biology using oligochaete worms in laboratory and field studies. Future research will require the combination of a variety of methodological approaches and the integration of the resulting information, avoiding fragmented and often conflicting visions of the relationships of the species with their environment. Current approaches to ecotoxicology and bioaccumulation using ecological risk assessment provide the opportunity to relate community studies with probability of effects. This book addresses three main themes: Ecological and Field Studies using the composition and structure of oligochaete communities, Toxicology and Laboratory Studies, and Bioaccumulation and Trophic Transfer Studies. Two appendices list values of toxicological parameters (LC50, EC50) and several bioaccumulation variables (bioaccumulation factors, biological half-life, toxicokinetic coefficients, and critical body residues) for different oligochaete species. Additional information is provided on Methodological Issues and on the Taxonomy of several oligochaete families, with information on the most recent taxonomic debates. Each chapter includes a critical view, based on the authors' experience, of a number of current issues which have been raised in the literature.

Proceedings of the First International Conference held in Lancaster, England, July 11-14, 1988

Aquatic ecosystem assessment is a rapidly developing field, and one of the newer approaches to assessing the condition of rivers and lakes is the Reference Condition Approach. This is a significant advancement in biomonitoring because it solves the problem of trying to locate nearby control or reference sites when studying an ecosystem that may be degraded, a problem that bedevils traditional approaches. Rather than using upstream reference sites in a river system or next-bay-over reference sites in a lake, an array of ecologically similar, least-exposed to stress sites scattered throughout a catchment or region is used. Once the reference condition has been established, any site suspected of being impacted can be assessed by comparison to the reference sites, and its status determined. The Reference Condition database, once formed, can be used repeatedly.
The Reference Condition is established by standardized sampling of both the biota and its environment at a number of reference sites. A variety of environmental variables is measured in conjunction with sampling the biota (usually benthic invertebrates). In this book, we describe the basic methods involved in selecting and sampling appropriate reference sites, comparing test sites to appropriate reference sites using predictive modeling, and determining whether or not test sites are in the reference condition. This provides a rapid assessment method that can deal with everything from large-scale, national issues to local-scale problems with the same approach, and often parts of the same database.

In aquatic ecosystems, the oligochaetes are often a major component of the community. Their relevance in sediment quality assessment is largely related to their benthic and detritivorous life habit. In this book, we aim to present the state of the art of Pollution Biology using oligochaete worms in laboratory and field studies. Future research will require the combination of a variety of methodological approaches and the integration of the resulting information, avoiding fragmented and often conflicting visions of the relationships of the species with their environment. Current approaches to ecotoxicology and bioaccumulation using ecological risk assessment provide the opportunity to relate community studies with probability of effects. This book addresses three main themes: Ecological and Field Studies using the composition and structure of oligochaete communities, Toxicology and Laboratory Studies, and Bioaccumulation and Trophic Transfer Studies. Two appendices list values of toxicological parameters (LC50, EC50) and several bioaccumulation variables (bioaccumulation factors, biological half-life, toxicokinetic coefficients, and critical body residues) for different oligochaete species. Additional information is provided on Methodological Issues and on the Taxonomy of several oligochaete families, with information on the most recent taxonomic debates. Each chapter includes a critical view, based on the authors experience, of a number of current issues which have been raised in the literature.

Aquatic ecosystem assessment is a rapidly developing field, and one of the newer approaches to assessing the condition of rivers and lakes is the Reference Condition Approach. This is a significant advancement in biomonitoring because it solves the problem of trying to locate nearby control or reference sites when studying an ecosystem that may be degraded, a problem that bedevils traditional approaches. Rather than using upstream reference sites in a river system or next-bay-over reference sites in a lake, an array of ecologically similar, least-exposed to stress sites scattered throughout a catchment or region is used. Once the reference condition has been established, any site suspected of being impacted can be assessed by comparison to the reference sites, and its status determined. The Reference Condition database, once formed, can be used repeatedly.

Proceedings of the First International Conference held in Lancaster, England, July 11-14, 1988

Taxonomy and Geographic Distribution. 1. Tenagodrilus musculus g.n., sp.n., a New Genus and Species of Lumbriculidae (Clitellata) from a Temporary Pond in Alabama, USA; M. Eckroth, R.O. Brinkhurst. 2. Kathrynella, a New Oligochaete Genus from Guyana; P. Omodeo. 3. Oligochaetes (Nididae, Tubificidae, Opistocystdae, Enchytraeidae, Sparganophilidae and Alluroididae) of Guyana; D.F. Stacey, K.A. Coates. 4. Species Separation and Identification in the Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta, Annelida): Combining Morphology and General Protein Pattern; R. Schmelz. Distribution, Abundance and Habitat Types. 5. Naidids and Other Oligochaetes of Italy; A. di Chiara Paoletti, Sambugar. 6. The Distribution of Oligochaeta on an Exposed Rocky Shore in South East Ireland; B. Healy. 7. Oligochaeta and Aphanoneura in Ancient Lakes: a Review; P. Martin. 8. Distribution Patterns of Aquatic Oligochaetes Inhabiting Watercourses in the North-Western Iberian Peninsula; E. Martinez-Ansemil, R. Collado. 9. The Influence of Water Movement on the Distribution of Oligochaetes; T.D. Slepukhina. 10. Oligochaeta of Lake Taimyr: a Preliminary Survey; T. Timm. 11. Influence of Grain Size on the Distribution of Tubificid Oligochaetes; G. Sauter, H. Gude. 12. Investigations of Oligochaete Community Structure in Different Habitats of a River Marsh Near Hamburg; R. Grimm. 13. Long-Term Changes in Oligochaete Communities in Lake Ladoga; T. Slepukhina. 14. Oligochaetes in the Southern Basin of the Venetian Lagoon: Community Composition, Species Abundance Biomass and Dispersion Pattern; S. Casellato. Population Dynamics. 15. Seasonal Dynamics of Aufwuchs Naididae (Oligochaeta) on Phragmites australis in a Eutrophic Lake; B. Lohlein. 16. Age, Stage and Size Structure as Population State Variables for Tubifex tubifex (Oligochaeta, Tubificidae); A. Pasteris, et al. 17. Oligochaete Species and their Biomass as a Source of Fish Food in Hungarian Rice Fields; A. Szito. 18. Intermediate Host Specificity of Caryophllaeus laticeps (Pallas) in Swedish Tubificid Oligochaetes and Population Dynamics of the Parasite in its Final Host the Bream, Abramis brama (L.) in Lake Malaren; G. Milbrink. 19. Energy Budget of Oligochaeta and its Connection with the Primary Production of a Reservoir; K. Jenderedjian. 20. Production and Population Dynamics of Tubifex tubifex in the Profundal Zone of a Freshwater Reservoir in N. Italy; C. Bonacina, et al. Pollution Studies. 21. Superficial and Hyporheic Communities as Indicators of Pollution and Water Exchange in the River Moselle (France); M. Lafont, et al. 22. Reversal of Eutrophication in Four Swiss Lakes; Evidence from Oligochaete Communities; C. Lang, O. Reymond. 23. A Comparison of Two Tubificid Oligochaete Species as Candidates for Sublethal Bioassay Tests Relevant to Subtropical and Tropical Regions; M. Marchese, R.O. Brinkhurst. 24. Oligochaetes in a Long Term Eutrophication Experiment; P.F.M. Verdonschot. Anthropogenic Impacts on Oligochaete Communities in the Mouth of the Neva; N.P. Finogenova. 26. Upstream and Downstream Movement of Macrofauna (with Special Referenc