Responses of Unio tumidus to mixed chemical preparations and the hazard of synecological summation of anthropogenic effects. - Doklady Biological Sciences, 2001, Volume 380, Numbers 1-6, p. 492-495. ISSN 0012-4966 (Print) 1608-3105 (Online). DOI 10.1023/A:1012344026176. The author introduced a new concept and term, “the synecological summation of the effects of anthropogenic factors on organisms”. In the new author’s experiments, the effects of commercial detergents, which are chemical mixtures, on bivalves (detergent OMO, freshwater mussels Unio tumidus) were studied. Detergents exert two types of hazardous effects on organisms and ecosystems: the phosphorus-induced stimulation of phytoplankton growth and surfactant-induced inhibition of filter-feeders. Because filter-feeders are an effective natural factor of control of unicellular plankton populations, the two types of the detergent-induced effects on ecosystem facilitate the growth of phytoplankton populations. Therefore, these effects sum together, thereby increasing the hazard of the man-made impact on the ecosystem. The results contribute to a better understanding of the potential ecological danger of pollutants for integral functions of ecosystems. It is the synecological summation of the effects of anthropogenic factors on plankton populations and filter-feeders that is of particular concern. The interaction between populations of plankton organisms and filter-feeders that feed on plankton should be taken into consideration in the studies on the ecological effects of synthetic detergents on these populations. Situations of man-made impact should be analyzed with using the synecological approach to the problem. http://sites.google.com/site/2001dbs380p492unio/; www.springerlink.com/index/L33309208H28L87R.pdf; DOI 10.1023/A:1012344026176; Translated from the original Russian paper: Responses of Unio tumidus to a mixture of chemicals and the hazard of synecological summation of anthropogenic effects (Reagirovanie Unio tumidus pri vozdeistvii smesevogo himicheskogo preparata i opasnost sinekologicheskogo summirovaniya antropogennyh vozdeistviy). — DAN. 2001. Vol. 380. No. 5. P. 714-717. (in Rus.). Key words: bivalves, freshwater mussels, Unio tumidus, detergents, mixed chemical preparations, hazards, synecological summation of anthropogenic effects, new concept, pollution, filter-feeders, water self-purification, water quality, aquatic ecosystem, bioassay