TO CONFIRM THE ROLES OF MARINE "KEY" ANIMALS AND TO INVESTIGATE THE FACTORS WHICH WOULD PERMIT THEIR USE FOR ROUTINE ECOTOXICOLOGICAL TESTING.

FOR THE ECOTOXICOLOGICAL TESTING OF CHEMICALS IN RELATION TO THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT, THE PROJECT WILL CONFIRM THE ROLE OF SOME "KEY" SPECIES AND WILL INVESTIGATE THE FACTORS WHICH WOULD ALLOW THEIR USE FOR ROUTINE TESTS.

THROUGHOUT, THE PROJECT WILL COMPRISE TWO PARALLEL BUT INTEGRATED ACTIVITIES:

- RESEARCH ABOUT THE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF KEY SPECIES IN TWO WIDESPREAD EURO-ATLANTIC COMMUNITIES, I.E. ONE FROM THE SOFT AND ONE FROM THE HARD SEABOTTOM.

THIS WILL TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE OCEANOGRAPHIC SITUATION OF THE WEST COAST OF IRELAND;

DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEMS FOR MAINTAINING AND TESTING THE SAME SPECIES IN BOTH LABORATORY AND FIELD INSTALLATIONS. RESPONSES TO SELECTED CHEMICALS, E.G. AMMONIA IN THE FIRST INSTANCE, BY INDIVIDUAL SPECIES IN THE LABORATORY WILL BE COMPARED WITH THOSE OF SPECIES' ASSEMBLAGES UNDER FIELD CONDITIONS. SUB-LETHAL RESPONSES WILL BE GIVEN SPECIAL ATTENTION; RECENT FINDINGS INDICATE THAT COMMUNITY STRUCTURE CAN BE DISRUPTED BY CONCENTRATIONS MUCH LOWER THAN THOSE REQUIRED TO SHOW EFFECTS ON A SINGLE SPECIES.