Data from: Simulating regimes of chemical disturbance and testing impacts in the ecosystem using a novel programmable dosing system

Pollution is a global issue at the frontier between ecology, environmental science, management, engineering and policy. Legislation requires experiments to determine how much contamination an ecosystem can absorb before there are structural or functional changes. Yet, existing methods cannot realistically simulate regimes of chemical disturbance and determine impacts to assemblages in ecosystems. This is because they lack ecologically relevant species and biotic interactions, are logistically difficult to set-up, and lack environmentally relevant regimes of chemical and abiotic disturbance that organisms experience in polluted areas. We solved these long-standing environmental, logistical, experimental and ecological problems by developing a programmable dosing-system. This dosing-system simulates, in situ, regimes of chemical disturbance to assemblages by manipulating the concentration, duration, timing and frequency of pollutants to which they are exposed. Experiments with priority pollutants (the metal copper and the biocide Chlorpyrifos) and mussel assemblages revealed consistent plumes of contamination within patches of mussel. Mussels at the sources of experimental plumes of copper created by the dosing-system, accumulated 670% more copper in their tissues compared to mussels 0.5-50 m away. In addition, when mussels were exposed to increasing concentrations of copper there was a concomitant increase in the amount of copper in the tissues of mussels. Combining the dosing-system with an established hierarchy of ecotoxicological assays revealed mussel assemblages exposed to copper and/or Chlorpyrifos had 40-70% fewer worms, whilst Chlorpyrifos alone caused an 81% reduction in the number of amphipods and caused mussels to filter 48% fewer particles from the water. Combinations of copper and/or Chlorpyrifos had no effects on the abundance of crabs, the respiratory functions of assemblages or the viability of molluscan haemocytes. As global contamination accelerates we discuss how this technological advance will enable a diverse array of ecologists, mangers and policy-makers to understand and reduce pollution.污染是横跨生态学、环境科学、管理学、工程学与政策学前沿领域的全球性议题。立法要求通过实验确定生态系统在发生结构或功能改变前所能承受的污染负荷上限。然而，现有研究方法无法真实模拟化学干扰模式，也难以精准测定其对生态群落的影响。究其原因，现有方法缺乏符合生态学意义的物种与生物相互作用模型，实验部署的后勤难度极大，且未能还原污染区域中生物所经历的化学与非生物干扰模式。本研究通过开发可编程投药系统，解决了这些长期存在的环境、后勤、实验与生态学层面的难题。该投药系统可通过调控污染物暴露浓度、持续时长、作用时机与发生频率，原位模拟生态群落所经受的化学干扰模式。以优先污染物（金属铜与杀菌剂杀螟硫磷(Chlorpyrifos)）和贻贝群落为对象开展的实验显示，贻贝斑块内存在稳定的污染羽流。相较于0.5至50米外的贻贝，投药系统构建的铜污染羽流源头处的贻贝组织内铜富集量高出670%。此外，当贻贝暴露于梯度升高的铜浓度环境中时，其组织内的铜含量也随之同步上升。将该投药系统与成熟的层级式生态毒理学检测方法结合后，结果显示暴露于铜和/或杀螟硫磷的贻贝群落中，蠕虫丰度下降40%-70%；仅暴露于杀螟硫磷的组别则导致端足类动物数量减少81%，同时贻贝的滤水率降低48%。铜与杀螟硫磷的单独或联合暴露对螃蟹丰度、群落呼吸功能以及软体动物血细胞活性均无显著影响。随着全球污染问题日益加剧，本研究探讨了这项技术进步将如何助力广大生态学家、管理者与政策制定者深入理解并治理污染问题。