You are here:
ORGANIZATION AND ADAPTATION OF AQUATIC LABORATORY ECOSYSTEMS EXPOSED TO THE PESTICIDE DIELDRIN
Citation:
Liss, W., D. Woltering, S. Finger, M. Kulbicki, AND B. McClurken. ORGANIZATION AND ADAPTATION OF AQUATIC LABORATORY ECOSYSTEMS EXPOSED TO THE PESTICIDE DIELDRIN. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/3-82/050.
Description:
A system of generalizations pertaining to the organization, development and persistence, adaptation, and productivity of ecological systems and their response to toxic substances was formulated. Laboratory ecosystems composed of persistent populations of guppies, amphipods, snails and various microinvertebrates were used in examining the system of generalizations for their utility and conformity with observation. Guppy populations in the ecosystems were exploited at different rates to simulate fishing, and the systems were provided with different levels of habitat availability and energy input rates. The laboratory communities developed different steady-state structures at different guppy exploitation rates and different levels of habitat availability and energy input. Guppies, amphipods, and snails were competitors for a common food resource, organic matter derived in part from the primary energy source, an alfalfa ration. Amphipods were also a prey of the guppies. Changes in exploitation rate and habitat availability and energy input brought about changes in the densities of all these interacting populations.