Fate and Effects of Toxic Agents in Water Bodies

Dear Colleagues,

Toxicological agents in water bodies pose increasingly threats to aquatic ecosystems and human health. These agents include heavy metals, pesticides, industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and plastic particles, which enter water systems through sources like runoff, industrial discharge, and improper waste disposal. These contaminants disrupt biological processes, hinder growth, impair reproduction, and may lead to mortality. Toxic agents also degrade water quality, by changing oxygen levels and nutrient cycling, ultimately causing eutrophication and dead zones. Monitoring and assessment programs help tracking contaminant levels and their impact on aquatic life. To mitigate the fate and effects of those toxicological agents in water bodies, rigorous regulations on contaminant discharges, improved waste management practices, and advanced water treatment technologies are essential. Moreover, numerical tools may help on the prediction and identification of areas significantly affected.

This Special Issue aims to comprehensively explore the interactions of contaminants in aquatic ecosystems, providing new insights into their consequences for both aquatic organisms and human populations. The scope of this Special Issue includes trace metals, organic chemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, plastics and other contaminants of emerging environmental concern, examining their sources, environmental fate and cycling, mechanisms of action, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification processes. The issue also addresses the use of numerical models to study such processes and mechanisms, and the broader context of environmental regulations, policies, and management strategies designed to mitigate the impact of toxic agents. By incorporating recent advancements and case studies, the Special Issue contributes to fulfil knowledge gaps on the current understanding of toxicological agents in water bodies, offering valuable insights for future research, policymaking, and sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems.

Dr. Pedro Brito
Dr. Carlos Eduardo Salgueiro e Silva Monteiro
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Oceans is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1600 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.

• inorganic contaminants
• organic contaminants
• emerging contaminants
• biogeochemistry
• bioaccumulation
• ecotoxicology
• numerical models
• water bodies
• regulation and policies