Ecophysiology of Invertebrates in Polluted Environments

Dear Colleagues,

The immoderate development of civilization, apart from expected benefits for society and economy, brings great ecological risk. Chemicals, released to the environment either intentionally, as pesticides or fertilizers, or unintentionally, as pollutants generated as by-products of industrial or urban expansion, exert strong pressure on invertebrates inhabiting polluted areas. It is of great importance to monitor their effects and recognize the physiological effects caused by potentially hazardous chemicals or particles. Special attention should be paid to the so-called new and emerging pollutants, as well as priority substances, whose toxicity at an organismal level has still been being recognized. This Special Issue is seeking original, unpublished papers that describe recent investigations on the physiological effects of environmental pressure connected with the presence of pollutants in natural terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The specific emphasis is on novel types of pressure demonstrating itself in the changes in physiological traits including all aspects of the development, survivorship, and reproductive strategies.

Responses to new and emerging pollutants and priority substance in the following areas are of particular interest:

• Respiration and digestion (energy budget, trade-off, tolerance)
• Immune defense
• Life history parameters
• Hormonal and neural regulation
• Behavior: defending or disturbed
• Native vs alien species ecophysiology
• Individual vs social insects (ecophysiology of “superorganism”)

Dr. Agnieszka Babczynska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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