Biological community structure

Munoz I, Lopez-Doval J, Ricart M, et al (2009) Bridging levels of pharmaceuticals with biological community structure in the Llobregat river basin (NE Spain) Environ Toxicol Chem28, 12. DOI 10.1897/08-486.1... 

Several factors may be named as of special importance (1) the amount and composition of organic matter transformed from land surface or biosynthesized in surface waters (2) the transport mechanism involved (3) the biological community structure mediating the transformation mechanisms and (4) physical characteristics of water, such as the water column depth, redox state, temperature, etc. 

Artigas J, Romani AM, Gaudes A, et al (2009) Benthic structure and metabolism in a Mediterranean stream from biological communities to the whole stream ecosystem function. Fresh. Biol. 54 DOI 10.1111/j.l365-2427.2008.02140.x... 

Analysis of bacterial monomers is performed routinely to detect bacteria at trace levels in environmental samples using GC-MS-MS. PCR is also used routinely by the molecular biology community for detection of clinical infections. MS and MS-MS greatly improve the specificity of analysis of PCR products and provide additional structural information that may be important in apply-... 

Textural fabrics in sediments that record the structure and/or function of biological communities (e.g. stromatolites). 

The development of a new environmental quality objective with the aim to preserve the biologic community, both in its functional and structural features, leads to the need for more refined and sensitive approaches for assessing environmental risk. The main issues and milestones established in the WFD are indicated... 

Fig. 10 Linkage of structural and functional descriptors in the use of biological communities to monitor stress in river systems...

Structure and function need to be jointly considered in the assessment of effects of stressors on river systems. It has been shown that the two sets of parameters offer complementary information since they cover different time scales and responses. This being shown in the case of biofilms is not a unique characteristic of them, but it might be applied to all other biological communities (e.g. macroinvertebrates, fish). These differ from the biofilm in its higher size and life span, and therefore in their integrative capacity to reflect effects in one part of the ecosystem. Higher traffic levels in addition to biofilms should be considered to study the whole ecosystem. In all of these biological compartments, the combined use of descriptors may amplify our ability to predict the effect of stressors on river basins. 

Zielezny Y., J. Groeneweg, H. Veieecken, and W. Tappe (2006). Impact of sulfadiazine and chlorotetracycline on soil bacterial community structure and respiratory activity. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38 2372-2380. 

Osler, G.H.R., Recous, S., Fillery, I.R.P., Gauci, C.S., Zhu C. and Abbott, L.K. 2004. Correlation between mite community structure and gross N fluxes. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 36 191-194. 

The Sediment Quality Triad (SQT) is an effects-based conceptual approach that can be used to assess and determine the status of contaminated sediments based on biology (laboratory and/or in situ toxicity tests), chemistry (chemical identification and quantification), and ecology (community structure and/or function). It provides a means for comparing three different lines of evidence (LOE) and arriving at a weight of evidence (WOE) determination regarding the risk posed by contaminated sediments. Effectively, each LOE comprises an independent assessment of hazard combined and integrated, they provide an assessment of risk. 

It is assumed that the measurement endpoints for biological effects (toxicity tests, benthic community structure) are appropriate relative to the assessment endpoints. 

Full-scale mechanistic gray-box modeling is the most common type of modeling currently employed in the systems biology community. The attribute mechanistic is included to denote that the model structure is based on the assumptions of what... 

However, this does not answer the question of whether microcosms and meso-cosms are protective of the diversity of water bodies in the field. To answer this question, it would be necessary to relate biological monitoring data (e.g., population abundances, community structure) to chemical monitoring data. Due to the fact that in the field a number of factors might affect populations and communities (e.g., habitat structure, nutrient levels, other chemicals), it is important to find data sets that allow quantification of the effect of 1 specific substance. 

Fe has been shown to play a key role in limiting phytoplankton growth and carbon uptake, and in determining the phytoplankton community structure in the Southern Ocean. Therefore, the carbon transfer efficiency to deep water by the biological carbon... 

Ecosystem structure The composition of the biological community in an ecosystem and the interrelationships between the individual populations of species (e.g., food web structure). 

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