E. W. Taylor – författare

This is Volume IV of a series of twenty-one on Individual Differences. Originally published in 1925, this is a collection of essays and studies presented to Dr Morton Prince, pioneer in American psychopathology.

This volume aims to review and present research on acid waters and their effects on aquatic animals. Starting initially with the environment in order to assess why the problems have arisen in particular areas, the volume then deals with field and survival studies on invertebrates and vertebrates and examines the extent of the biological problem and the attempts which have been made to relate water quality and the susceptibility of animals. Major advances in this area have included the realization that declining populations are often the result of acid waters and their interactions with traces of other ions and that these situations produce the most severe physiological problems. The natural progression of environmental and field studies, toxicity and survival tests provide the background information for the physiological studies which follow. These form the major component of the book and they seek to analyse the toxic effects of acid waters and trace metals on acid-base balance, respiration, ionic balance together with cardiovascular and endocrinological effects.

When this book was first published in 1996, the pollution of the earth's freshwater habitats was, as it is now, a topic of major concern. This synthesis considers the effects of pollutants on aquatic animals via a series of research and review articles that present experimental evidence of sublethal and lethal effects of a range of toxicants at the physiological, cellular and subcellular levels, and that explore techniques for detection of pollution damage. Topics covered include routes of uptake of toxicants; the effect of acute and chronic exposure to toxic metal ions, particularly zinc, copper and aluminium, with emphasis on the mechanisms of toxicity and responses to chronic exposure to sublethal levels; the impact on fish biology of two chemicals of current concern, nitrites and polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which may act as oestrogenic substances or potent mutagens; and in vitro studies of the mechanisms of toxicity at the cellular and subcellular level, including damage of DNA, using cultured fish cells.