title: A strategy for the assessment of continuous and pulsed contaminants in river and estuary ecosystems in the Arctic.
abstract: A transfer of contaminants from the land through the rivers forms a significant part of the Arctic seas' pollution. A whole ecosystem is the target of this harmful action. The response of the ecosystem can be considered as the measure of the impact. To assess this impact we designed a mathematical approach based on the Liebig-Shelford law of tolerance, the "narrow path" principle and the Shannon index of diversity to evaluate a prosperity function and a comprehensive risk index for a river or estuary ecosystem. To illustrate this general approach we consider the propagation of the pollutant along the river bed after (1) continuous and (2) pulsed release of a pollutant. The results of calculations show good correspondence with the actual behaviour of natural ecosystems. Further studies are necessary to find out the actual values of the parameters for different pollutants.
authors.affiliation: RRC Kurchatov Institute.
authors.forename: V N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Lystsov
authors.forename: N V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Murzin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D017753:Ecosystem; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical