Human-dominated ecosystems and restoration ecology: Seveso today

Seveso is a town (40,000 inhabitants) 16 km north of Milan, which from 10 J uly 1976 became synonymous with the chemically induced ecological catastrop he because of the large number of people affected by dioxin exposure and of the large area involved. The most polluted area (about 43 ha) was artifici ally reconstructed and transformed into a wood composed mainly of oaks with some scattered green fields and some bushy areas, the Bosco delle Querce u rban park. A four-year survey monitoring the present ecological and biologi cal risk parameters of the artificially reconstructed ecosystem shows its f ull ecological recovery as an urban park. Plant and animal coenoses are wel l composed and the park has been colonized by annelids, insects, amphibians , reptiles, birds and mammals. All these animals are useful biological reag ents for risk-assessment because of their potential long-term exposure to T CDD. When some of the endpoints of the xenoestrogen-like molecules' action were studied (i.e., gametogenesis and the gross morphology of genital organ s in rabbits and house mice), no signs of TCDD effects were detected. Mutag enicity tests and the house mouse sperm DNA COMET assay do not reveal the p resence of any biological risk. The study of the carabidocoenosis and the h ousefly cytogenetics corroborates this last indication, thus guaranteeing t he successful ecological recovery of the formerly most polluted Seveso area . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.