Ecotoxicological effects on structure and function of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

The traditional procedures for the ecotoxicological risk assessment are general, schematic and simplified and, for these reason, they are powerful tools for regulation purposes. Anyway, they don't take into account the actual consequences on natural communities, the interactions among populations within the community or the indirect effects of a contamination. The need of more "ecological realism" into them is thus felt. Recently, the application of the vulnerability concept, instead of sensitivity, and the use of biological characteristics (traits) of organisms for predicting it represent steps towards the introduction of more ecological realism in ecotoxicology. In the present work the traditional ecotoxicological procedures were used in different compartments in the same area, considering the stress given by plant protection products. Then, based on the previous step, some innovative aspects were applied on the soil compartment. Natural communities were investigated for assessing the actual consequences of the stress and possible indirect effects on the food web. The recent trait-based and vulnerability approaches were applied and the results compared each other. A vulnerability analysis procedure to a mixture of plant protection products for soil community was also developed.