An Ecosystems Disturbance By A Pollutant

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Term Paper Title	An Ecosystems Disturbance By A Pollutant
# of Words	2824
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	11.3

"An Ecosystem's Disturbance by a Pollutant

"An Ecosystem's Disturbance by a Pollutant

Paul Cordova
L. Lehr
December 11, 1995

Freedman defines a pollutant as "the occurrence of toxic substances or energy in
a larger quality then the ecological communities or particular species can
tolerate without suffering measurable detriment" (Freeman, 562). Although the
effects of a pollutant on an organism vary depending on the dose and duration
(how long administered). The impact can be one of sublethality to lethality, all
dependent upon the factors involved. These factors need to be looked at when
determining an ecosystem's disturbance by a pollutant.

Some of the most frequent pollutants in our ecosystem include: gases such as
sulphur dioxide, elements such as mercury and arsenic, and even pollution by
nutrients which is referred to as eutrophication. Each of these pollutants pose
a different effect on the ecosystem at different doses. This varied effect is
what is referred to as dose and duration. The amount of the pollutant
administered over what period of time greatly affects the impact that the
pollutant will have on an ecosystem and population.

Pollutants can affect both a population and an ecosystem. A pollutant on a
population level can be either non-target or target. Target effects are those
that can kill off the entire population. Non-target effects are those that
effects a significant number of individuals and spreads over to other
individuals, such is the case when crop dusters spread herbicides, insecticides.
Next we look at population damage by a pollutant, which in turn has a
detrimental effect on the ecosystem in several ways. First, by the killing of an
entire population by a pollutant, it offsets the food chain and potentially
kills off other species that depended on that organism for food. Such is the
case when a keystone species is killed. If predators were the dominant species
high on the food chain, the organisms that the predator keep to a minimum could
massively over produce creating a disturbance in the delicate balance of
carrying capacity in the ecosystem. Along with this imbalance another potential
problem in an ecosystem is the possibility of the pollutant accumulating in the
(lipophilic) fat cells. As the pollutant makes it way through the food chain it
increases with the increasing body mass of the organism. These potential
problems are referred to as bioconcentration and biomagnificaiton, respectively.
Both of these problems being...

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