Aquatic Ecotoxicology and Environmental Contamination

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 5061

Special Issue Editors

Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystem, National Research Council of Italy, Via Salaria Km 29,300, 00015 Rome, Italy
Interests: phytoremediation; metal uptake and transport in plants; ecotoxicological assessment; phytomanagement; tissue culture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department for Sustainability, ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Casaccia Research Center, Via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy
Interests: aquatic ecology; ecotoxicology; genotoxicity; microplastics; amphipods; biomarkers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The release and accumulation of pollutants in the aquatic compartment represent environmental threats of growing concern for the ecosystem and human health, as well as affecting the availability of pure water for different purposes.

While there is a large body of literature dealing with the presence and the consequences on biological organisms of the xenobiotic compounds in the marine environment, information on these issues targeting the freshwater ecosystem are still fragmentary. In particular, the effects of emerging contaminants, including pharmaceutical, personal care and household cleaning products, agricultural residues, flame retardants, microplastics and nanomaterials on freshwater biota are a matter of growing attention for environmental risk assessment. Direct toxicity and bioaccumulation effects are especially concerning for primary producer and primary consumer organisms in the freshwater compartment, due to their extreme vulnerability and important ecological role, being at the base of the trophic network involving the human diet. Regardless, due to the particular physico-chemical characteristics of the emerging pollutants, all the representatives of the aquatic biota are under threat. 

The Special Issue is devoted to acquiring new information on the impact of conventional and emerging pollutants on the freshwater ecosystem, targeting both plants and invertebrates. In this context, studies dealing with the ecotoxicological assessment involving model organisms, physiological and biomolecular mechanisms, and novel biomonitoring indices will be particularly welcomed.

Dr. Massimo Zacchini
Dr. Valentina Iannilli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • freshwater ecosystem
  • emerging contaminants
  • ecotoxicological assessment
  • pollutant biomonitoring
  • xenobiotics

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3452 KiB  
Article
Differential Impacts of Road De-icers on Freshwater Bacterial Communities
by Troy A. Martin, Collin L. Juurakko, Tia Harrison, Shelley E. Arnott and Virginia K. Walker
Water 2024, 16(3), 426; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16030426 - 28 Jan 2024
Viewed by 1048
Abstract
Concern about salt levels in freshwater habitats receiving road de-icer runoff has inspired the development of “eco-friendly” formulations that are intended to be less toxic to aquatic organisms, but few experiments have determined that these products are environmentally benign. Mesocosms containing lake water [...] Read more.
Concern about salt levels in freshwater habitats receiving road de-icer runoff has inspired the development of “eco-friendly” formulations that are intended to be less toxic to aquatic organisms, but few experiments have determined that these products are environmentally benign. Mesocosms containing lake water were established for 6 weeks to compare traditional road salt with two newer de-icers, one an inorganic mixture of chloride salts and the second of beet extract and brine. Amplicon sequencing and algal blocking sequences facilitated the identification of differentially impacted bacterial taxa. Ironically, although there was only a minor effect on bacterial structure at high road-salt concentrations, there was an increased relative abundance of salt-resistant genera in the mixed-salt formulation. After amendment with the beet brine de-icer, there was a turnover of taxa coincident with a 68-fold decrease in dissolved oxygen, with decreased diversity and displacement by anaerobic genera indicating a shift across a threshold to a new, apparently stable state, suggesting mesocosm recovery was unlikely. Overall, although we applaud the sentiment behind the formulation of less-damaging “eco-friendly” de-icers, they appear to have more negative environmental impacts than the traditional road salt that they were made to replace. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecotoxicology and Environmental Contamination)
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16 pages, 2081 KiB  
Article
Microplastic Toxicity and Trophic Transfer in Freshwater Organisms: Ecotoxicological and Genotoxic Assessment in Spirodela polyrhiza (L.) Schleid. and Echinogammarus veneris (Heller, 1865) Treated with Polyethylene Microparticles
by Valentina Iannilli, Laura Passatore, Serena Carloni, Francesca Lecce, Giulia Sciacca, Massimo Zacchini and Fabrizio Pietrini
Water 2023, 15(5), 921; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15050921 - 27 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3439
Abstract
The widespread occurrence of microplastics (MPs) has resulted in their interaction with biological processes. Thus, there is a great concern about the potential toxicity of MPs on animal and plant cells and on the possibility that MPs reach humans through the food web. [...] Read more.
The widespread occurrence of microplastics (MPs) has resulted in their interaction with biological processes. Thus, there is a great concern about the potential toxicity of MPs on animal and plant cells and on the possibility that MPs reach humans through the food web. In order to shed light on both issues, laboratory assays were performed for evaluating the effects of polyethylene (PE) microparticles on the aquatic plant Spirodela polyrhiza (L.) Schleid. and the gammarid Echinogammarus veneris (Heller, 1865). Moreover, a stock of MP-treated Spirodela plants was used to feed gammarid individuals, and the presence of MP particles in their digestive tracts was analyzed. Results evidenced the lack of toxic effects of MPs on plants, evaluated at growth and physiological level by biometric parameters, pigment content, and photosynthetic performance estimated by chlorophyll fluorescence imaging through the ETPT (EcoTox Photosystem Tool). Only a slight reduction in pigment-related indices in MP-treated plants was observed. A remarkable genotoxic effect was instead highlighted by Comet assay in the hemocytes of gammarid individuals exposed to MPs, with three times more DNA damage (expressed as Tail Moment) in MP-treated individuals compared to control ones. Finally, the gut content of the gammarids fed with MP-treated plants revealed the presence of 7.6 MP particles/individual, highlighting the occurrence of trophic transfer of MPs among freshwater ecosystem organisms. Novel indications about the potential impact of the PE microparticles in the aquatic compartment are provided. Notably, the transfer of MP particles between primary producer and primary consumer organisms of the freshwater trophic chain and the genotoxic effects associated with the ingestion of such particles by gammarids are issues of concern for the aquatic ecosystem and the food web leading to the human diet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecotoxicology and Environmental Contamination)
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