Citation:

Walters, D., J. Kraus, AND Marc A. Mills. Contaminants and Ecological Subsidies The Land-Water Interface. Johanna M. Kraus, David M. Walters, Marc A. Mills (ed.), Springer International Publishing AG, Cham (ZG), Switzerland, (2020).

Impact/Purpose:

This volume explores the effects of aquatic contaminants on ecological subsidies and food web exposure at the boundary of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. It provides the first synthesis of the findings and principles governing the “dark side” of contaminant effects on ecological subsidies. Furthermore, the volume provides extensive coverage of the tools being developed to help managers and researchers better understand the implications of contaminants movement and their effects on natural resources and ecosystem processes.

Description:

Introduction: Ecological Subsidies as a Framework for Understanding Contaminant Fate, Exposure, and Effects at the Land-Water Interface Ecologists have long recognized that ecological subsidies (the flow of organic matter, nutrients, and organisms between ecosystems) can strongly affect ecosystem processes and community structure in the recipient organism. In particular, animal movements, organic matter flows and food web dynamics between linked aquatic and terrestrial systems can influence contaminant fate, exposure, and effects at the land-water interface. Here, we develop a broad framework highlighting that ecological subsidies and contaminants interact in two important ways. There are times when ecological subsides drive exposure to recipient systems and times when exposures in the donor system control subsidies and contaminant fluxes to the recipient systems. In the case of prey movements, subsidies drive exposure (i.e., changes in prey quality) when contaminants present in aquatic environments are (1) prone to bioaccumulate in animal tissues, and (2) are relatively non-toxic to prey. Conversely, exposure in the aquatic system can limit subsidies (i.e., changes in prey quantity) when pollutants are relatively toxic to prey. These effects of contaminants on subsidies are shaped by other global stressors that are ubiquitous in aquatic-riparian ecosystems (e.g., climate and land use change, invasive species, and eutrophication). As our understanding of these ecological and toxicological processes advances, there are increasing opportunities to make landscape-scale predictions of contaminant fluxes and to integrate aquatic-riparian linkages into risk management.

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