Résumé :
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The protection of the environment is of great concern in the Alligator Rivers Region because within its boundary lies a unique wilderness area of national importance. Also within the Region are deposits of uranium-bearing ore, as well as other metal-ore deposits. The mining of these ores may necessitate, at some stage in the history of the mining operations, a release of excess mine waste water into local river systems due to the very seasonal nature of the rainfall of the wet/dry tropics. There is, therefore, a need to determine at what concentration the mine waste waters could be released without any adverse effects on the biota being observed. At first, this was based on chemical criteria but the need to account for synergetic, additive or even antagonistic effects of the waste water entering the local waterways is better evaluated using biological toxicity tests. Biological toxicity test were, therefore, developed using local aquatic species from different trophic levels and phyla, and with variuos endpoint.
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