ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a broad-brush description of the important environmental contaminants, including their natures, behaviors in ecological systems, and underlying qualities. Many environmental contaminants have been recognized and given close attention for decades, while others have only recently emerged as concerns. Only the most prominent conventional and emerging contaminants are introduced there for the sake of space. Contaminants such as excessive amounts of phosphorus or nitrogen species in lakes can have harmful consequences for the associated ecological community. Contaminants released into the environment generally end up in aquatic ecosystems. Rainy conditions prevailing in some tropical areas favor surface runoff and groundwater leaching that transport contaminants into aquatic ecosystems. The contamination of ecosystems with introduced genes is a topic that could easily be relegated to another discipline—perhaps crop sciences or conservation biology. Discussions of the organic contaminants included emerging contaminants that have specific biological activities such as modification of endocrine functions.
