Abstract :
Studies of pollution problems in rural areas of the world have stressed the importance of clean, unpolluted reference areas in the polar regions that can be used for comparison with more polluted and contaminated areas. During the past few decades, however, the occurrence of long-range transport of contaminants and pollutants to these ‘clean and unpolluted’ polar ecosystems has been recognized. The reason for our concern is that environmental contaminants may be having detrimental effects on biota in various parts of the biosphere, including the polar regions. The choice of methods to be used to study the biological effects of contaminants on arctic ecosystems can be divided into measurements of contaminant parameters (concentrations), physiological parameters, morphological parameters (histology, etc.), and population and community parameters. Each of these types of measurement has disadvantages and advantages. The choice of methods to be used depends on the conception behind the studies and on our ability to formulate specific risk models to the investigated. The selection of investigative methods is discussed with the objective of revealing expected or unexpected effects of known and unknown contaminants in the Arctic, where, from a global perspective, concentrations at comparable ecological niches are low.
