Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies,usually as a result of human activities,so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes,rivers,oceans,aquifers,reservoirs and groundwater. Water pollution results when contaminants mix with these water bodies. Contaminants can come from one of four main sources:sewage discharges,industrial activities,agricultural activities,and urban runoff including stormwater. Water pollution is either surface water pollution or groundwater pollution. This form of pollution can lead to many problems,such as the degradation of aquatic ecosystems or spreading water-borne diseases when people use polluted water for drinking or irrigation. Another problem is that water pollution reduces the ecosystem services that the water resource would otherwise provide.
Biomagnification,also known as bioamplification or biological magnification,is the increase in concentration of a substance,e.g a pesticide,in the tissues of organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain. This increase can occur as a result of:
An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem found in and around a body of water,in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms—aquatic life—that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems may be lentic;lotic;and wetlands.
Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans,such as industrial,agricultural and residential waste,particles,noise,excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there. The majority of this waste (80%) comes from land-based activity,although marine transportation significantly contributes as well. It is a combination of chemicals and trash,most of which comes from land sources and is washed or blown into the ocean. This pollution results in damage to the environment,to the health of all organisms,and to economic structures worldwide. Since most inputs come from land,either via the rivers,sewage or the atmosphere,it means that continental shelves are more vulnerable to pollution. Air pollution is also a contributing factor by carrying off iron,carbonic acid,nitrogen,silicon,sulfur,pesticides or dust particles into the ocean. The pollution often comes from nonpoint sources such as agricultural runoff,wind-blown debris,and dust. These nonpoint sources are largely due to runoff that enters the ocean through rivers,but wind-blown debris and dust can also play a role,as these pollutants can settle into waterways and oceans. Pathways of pollution include direct discharge,land runoff,ship pollution,bilge pollution,atmospheric pollution and,potentially,deep sea mining.
Hydrobiology is the science of life and life processes in water. Much of modern hydrobiology can be viewed as a sub-discipline of ecology but the sphere of hydrobiology includes taxonomy,economic and industrial biology,morphology,and physiology. The one distinguishing aspect is that all fields relate to aquatic organisms. Most work is related to limnology and can be divided into lotic system ecology and lentic system ecology.
Aquatic biomonitoring is the science of inferring the ecological condition of rivers,lakes,streams,and wetlands by examining the organisms that live there. While aquatic biomonitoring is the most common form of biomonitoring,any ecosystem can be studied in this manner.
Environmental toxicology is a multidisciplinary field of science concerned with the study of the harmful effects of various chemical,biological and physical agents on living organisms. Ecotoxicology is a subdiscipline of environmental toxicology concerned with studying the harmful effects of toxicants at the population and ecosystem levels.
A wild fishery is a natural body of water with a sizeable free-ranging fish or other aquatic animal population that can be harvested for its commercial value. Wild fisheries can be marine (saltwater) or lacustrine/riverine (freshwater),and rely heavily on the carrying capacity of the local aquatic ecosystem.
David William Schindler,,was an American/Canadian limnologist. He held the Killam Memorial Chair and was Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton,Alberta. He was notable for "innovative large-scale experiments" on whole lakes at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) which proved that "phosphorus controls the eutrophication in temperate lakes leading to the banning of phosphates in detergents. He was also known for his research on acid rain. In 1989,Schindler moved from the ELA to continue his research at the University of Alberta in Edmonton,with studies into fresh water shortages and the effects of climate disruption on Canada's alpine and northern boreal ecosystems. Schindler's research had earned him numerous national and international awards,including the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal,the First Stockholm Water Prize (1991) the Volvo Environment Prize (1998),and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2006).
Steven J. Cooke is a Canadian biologist specializing in ecology and conservation physiology of fish. He is best known for his integrative work on fish physiology,behaviour,ecology,and human-dimensions to understand and solve complex environmental problems. He currently is a Canada Research Professor in Environmental Science and Biology at Carleton University and the Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal Conservation Physiology.
Energy,nutrients,and contaminants derived from aquatic ecosystems and transferred to terrestrial ecosystems are termed aquatic-terrestrial subsidies or,more simply,aquatic subsidies. Common examples of aquatic subsidies include organisms that move across habitat boundaries and deposit their nutrients as they decompose in terrestrial habitats or are consumed by terrestrial predators,such as spiders,lizards,birds,and bats. Aquatic insects that develop within streams and lakes before emerging as winged adults and moving to terrestrial habitats contribute to aquatic subsidies. Fish removed from aquatic ecosystems by terrestrial predators are another important example. Conversely,the flow of energy and nutrients from terrestrial ecosystems to aquatic ecosystems are considered terrestrial subsidies;both aquatic subsidies and terrestrial subsidies are types of cross-boundary subsidies. Energy and nutrients are derived from outside the ecosystem where they are ultimately consumed.
Deborah Liebl Swackhamer was an environmental chemist and professor emerita at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Swackhamer applied her expertise in studying the effects of exposure to toxic chemicals,as well as the processes that spread those chemicals,to developing policies that address exposure risks.
Irena Creed is a Canadian hydrologist. She is the Vice-Principal for Research and Innovation at University of Toronto Scarborough in Toronto,Canada,and was formerly the Associate Vice-President for Research at the University of Saskatchewan,and the Executive Director of the University of Saskatchewan's School of Environment and Sustainability in Saskatoon,Canada. Creed studies the impacts of global climate change on ecosystem functions and services,often focusing on the hydrology of freshwater wetlands and catchments.
Nandita Basu is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Water Sustainability and Ecohydrology at the University of Waterloo. Her research is centered on anthropogenic effects on water availability and quality via changes in land use and climate. Basu is recognized for her work on discovering the impact of nutrient legacies and proposed solutions to improving water quality of lakes and coastal zones.
Elena M. Bennett is an American ecosystem ecologist specializing in studying the interactions of ecosystem services on landscape. She is currently a Professor and the Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Science at McGill University. She was inducted to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars,Artists,and Scientists in 2017. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022 and became a Guggenheim Fellow in the same year.
Chelsea Marina Rochman is an American marine and freshwater ecologist whose research focuses on anthropogenic stressors in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Since September 2016,Rochman has been an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a scientific advisor to the Ocean Conservancy.
Sapna Sharma is a Canadian limnologist and associate professor of biology at York University. Sharma studies human-induced environmental stressors and holds the York University Research Chair in Global Change Biology. She obtained her PhD at the University of Toronto and held post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Montreal and the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Joanna Yvonne Wilson is a Canadian aquatic toxicologist and physiologist. Wilson is a multidisciplinary scientist whose work intersects the fields of environmental physiology,biochemistry,toxicology,bioinformatics and functional genomics. Her research focuses on studying cytochrome P450 enzymes and the effects of environmental contaminants on marine and freshwater species,the most notable being the impact of pharmaceuticals in the environment. She is a professor in the department of biology at McMaster University in Hamilton,Ontario,Canada.
Deborah Lynn MacLatchy is a Canadian ecotoxicologist and comparative endocrinologist. She is the seventh President and Vice-Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University,having formally led the International Office at the University of New Brunswick. She also served as President and Council Member of the Canadian Society of Zoologists and Chair of the Science Directors of the Canadian Rivers Institute. In 2012,MacLatchy was recognized as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in a Top 100 list compiled by the Women’s Executive Network.
Roxane Maranger is a professor at Universitéde Montréal and Canada Research Chair Tier I in Aquatic Ecosystem Science and Sustainability known for her research on the impact of humans on water quality in lakes. From July 2020 - July 2022,she served as the president of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO).
