Recovery of polluted ecosystems: the case for long-term studies

Abstract

Recovery of marine ecosystems from pollution has tended to receive less attention than the study of new or continuing impacts, but such studies are important in charting recovery from acute incidents and following legislation to deal with chronic contamination. Recovery is inevitably a long-term process, and where such studies have been made they are often too short-lived. Interest quickly wanes following an acute incident and governmental bodies rapidly switch to new legislative priorities for chronic inputs. We review three case studies: recovery of dogwhelk populations after local extinction by tributyl tin leachates from antifouling paints; recovery of rocky shore communities from oil spills; and recovery of estuarine ecosystems from industrial and urban development. We then make some generalisations about recovery processes before making a plea for long-term studies of polluted areas.