Download or read book Ecology of Humic Substances in Freshwaters written by Christian Steinberg and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2003-04-16 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humic Substances color all waters more or less brown. Their concentrations exceed all carbon of living organisms by at least one order of magnitude. Opposite to former paradigms, they participate in almost any metabolic pathway. They protect against UV-irradation, enable indirect photolysis and, thus, purify hazardous chemicals, they provide inorganic and organic nutrients, may form cryptic genes with DNA and dampen metabolic fluctuations. More recently they can increase adverse effects of hazardous chemicals and they can directly interfere with organisms. The book tries to relate effects to structural features.