Emerging Environmental Challenges: Impacts of Multiple Stressors on Aquatic Fauna

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 673

Special Issue Editor

College of Marine Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510641, China
Interests: microplastics; nanoplastics; health risk; pathogen; fish; shrimps; immunity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Aquatic ecosystems are increasingly subjected to a complex array of emerging environmental pressures, including climate change, novel pollutants, habitat degradation, and altered hydrological regimes. These stressors rarely act in isolation; their combined, synergistic, or antagonistic effects pose a profound and escalating threat to aquatic fauna. This Special Issue seeks to compile cutting-edge research that elucidates the multifaceted impacts of multiple stressors on fish, invertebrates, and other aquatic animals. We welcome submissions that employ integrative approaches—from molecular and physiological mechanisms to behavioral, population-, and community-level responses. Studies may address topics such as the interactive effects of warming and contaminants, the cumulative impact of multiple pollutants, the role of environmental stress in disease emergence, or the limits of ecological resilience and adaptive capacity. We encourage contributions from diverse fields including ecotoxicology, conservation physiology, ecological modeling, and environmental risk assessment. By synthesizing knowledge on this critical theme, this Special Issue aims to advance predictive understanding and inform effective management strategies for safeguarding aquatic biodiversity in a rapidly changing world.

Dr. Muting Yan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 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

  • multiple stressors
  • environmental pressures
  • novel pollutants
  • ecotoxicology
  • aquatic biodiversity

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

19 pages, 1976 KB  
Article
Chronic Hypoxia Reduced the Growth and Muscle Quality in Turbot, Scophthalmus maximus
by Zhongmin Guo, Yuexing Zhang, Yuliang Wei, Chenchen Bian, Mengqing Liang, Zhenyu Du, Houguo Xu and Qiang Ma
Animals 2026, 16(6), 861; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16060861 - 10 Mar 2026
Viewed by 459
Abstract
Hypoxia is a common environmental stress in nature and aquaculture, but the adaptation mechanisms of flatfish to chronic hypoxia and its effects on flesh quality remain unclear. In this study, the turbot was cultured at control normoxia (CON, 6.5 ± 0.5 mg/L) or [...] Read more.
Hypoxia is a common environmental stress in nature and aquaculture, but the adaptation mechanisms of flatfish to chronic hypoxia and its effects on flesh quality remain unclear. In this study, the turbot was cultured at control normoxia (CON, 6.5 ± 0.5 mg/L) or chronic hypoxia (CHO, 3.5 ± 0.5 mg/L) for 8 weeks; then, the growth, energy metabolism, meat quality, and the expression of related genes were measured. The CHO group significantly reduced the digestibility (p < 0.05), weight gain (p < 0.001), and body indexes (p < 0.01), but increased feed conversion ratio (p < 0.001) in turbot. Meanwhile, the CHO group decreased muscle texture, total amino acid, soluble protein (p < 0.001), glycogen contents, and myofiber numbers (p < 0.001), while increasing myofiber diameters and lactate content (p < 0.01). In addition, chronic hypoxia increased the hepatic angiogenesis by activating the hif1α/vegfa pathway (p < 0.05) and decreased the whole fish lipid content and liver n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid levels (p < 0.05). In summary, chronic hypoxia reduced the growth, nutrient content, and flesh quality of turbot. This study provides important references for elucidating the adaptation mechanisms of flatfish to chronic hypoxia and for developing mitigation strategies. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop