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Estimation of the detection limit of the measurement instrument in the time period available for counting, linked with the required detectable concentration and the expected concentration of the radionuclide to be determined, guides selection of sample size for the analysis. Calculation of the minimum detectable activity is discussed in Section 10.4.2. Additional documents of interest are Altshuler and Pasternack (1963), Pasternack and Harley (1971), and Currie (1968). The terms minimum detectable concentration and lower limit of detection also have widespread use. A document that addresses these and other topics pertinent to radiation monitoring and measurement was developed by a committee of the Health Physics Society (EPA 1980a). 

Many researchers studied the effects of dispersants on whole ecosystems and not on individual species [S3]. The ASTM guides on dispersants are prepared for whole systems [84], The advantages of this approach are that often users think in terms of their ecosystem as a whole and also because of the many links between trophic levels in a given ecosystem. The disadvantages are that studies may not be applicable to other ecosystems and certain species may not be studied in a given system, simply because they were not considered. 

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