Analytical Measurements in Aquatic Environments
- The Role of Analytics in Studies of Aquatics in Studies of Aquatic Environments
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The Role of Analytics in Studies of Aquatics in Studies of Aquatic Environments
The recent decades have witnessed a sharply growing demand for information. This also pertains to the information on various material objects that can be obtained in the course of analytical examination of collected samples. Therefore, the analytical nformation resulting from the work of analysts is a response to society's demands, as is pictured in the diagram shown in Figure 1.The desire to satisfy the need for analytical data stimulates actions towards:
- developing new analytical methodologies,
- designing and implementing new technical solutions for the measuring instruments used in analytical practice.
Analytical methodologies and measuring instruments are the tools for obtaining reliable data on the composition of the material objects being studied.The science on the construction and operating rules of measuring instruments is often referred to as “instrumentation”. The consecutive stages of this science development can be easily discerned.
Fig. 1. Demand for analytical information as a stimulus for the development of analytics
Access to a variety of information sources facilitates decision making not only in politics, but also in the economy and technology (related to control over the processes of manufacturing consumer goods). A new type of market arose, where information is bought and sold. Analytical data on the studied material objects are a specific kind of information. This information is not usually obtained through an analysis of the whole object, but is based on the analyses of appropriate samples. Therefore, the samples have to be collected in such a way that the most important criterion is met, ie representativeness. In order to satisfy the growing demand for analytical data, more and more intense
research is taking place with the aim of developing new methodological and instrumental solutions so that the analytical results are a source for as much information as possible, that is - in other words - are characterized by the greatest information capacity possible.
According to more and more common opinion, analytics and monitoring constitute the two pillars on which all of environmental science is based. It is true in the situation when both analytics and monitoring as such do not directly solve any of the problems concerning the environment. They are powerful tools only useful for gaining information about the state of the environment and phenomena and processes undergoing there (Namieśnik, 2000). With the purpose of making analytical information as reliable as possible, quality control and quality assurance play particularly important roles.
Measurement devices used for either analytical or monitoring purposes differ in a great manner. The basic differences between these are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Short description of features that measurement devices used for environmental analytics and monitoring possess.
Suitable analytical information is a final result of work carried out both insitu and in the laboratory. Analytical chemists are able to provide to environmentalists different types of information among which we can emphasize concentration of an analyte and its time and space fluctuations, distribution of an analyte inside the material object under investigation, total content of an element and its speciation, confirmation of the presence of a given species in a sample as well as elucidation of the presence of an analyte at the concentration level above the threshold limit value TLV. The last two decades constitute a period of rapid development of environmental analytics and monitoring. Two main tendencies can be observed; first of all is the development and validation of new analytical procedures and the second one is the design, construction and application of new types of measuring devices. The level of knowledge concerning the state of the environment increases constantly. Information about new pollutants found in environmental samples is published in many journals. The attention of analysts is oriented towards non-regulated pollutants, also called either new emerging pollutants, non-target pollutants or non-identified pollutants.
Resources
The material in this article was taken from the recently published book entitled ANALYTICAL MEASUREMENTS IN AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS. It includes valuable information focused on all aspects of analytical measurements carried out in aquatic ecosystems.
The book consists of a set of chapters (prepared by teams of specialists) focused on the most important aspects of different types of analytical procedures.
Special attention is paid to:
- handling of representative samples
- preservation techniques
- extraction techniques
- green aspects of analytical chemistry
- application of biotests
- quality control and quality assurance of analytical results
- application of life cycle assessment approach to evaluation of environmental risk connected with activities of analytical laboratories
