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Toxics
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Occurrence and Environmental Risks of Organic Pollutants in Aquatic Environment—2nd...
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Occurrence and Environmental Risks of Organic Pollutants in Aquatic Environment—2nd Edition

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecotoxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 1506

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Chenglian Feng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Interests: ecotoxicology; environmental chemistry; risk assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Bingli Lei

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Environmental Pollution and Health, College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Interests: PPCP; emerging environmental endocrine disruptors; bisphenol compounds; screening of typical environmental endocrine disruptors in water environment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Weiying Feng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
Interests: water pollution; environmental pollution and control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With industrialization and urbanization, a large number of organic pollutants are discharged into the water environment, posing potential risks to both the water ecosystem and human health. There are significant differences in their environmental behaviors and potential risk of different types of pollutants. To assess the environmental risks of these organic pollutants as well, we first need to evaluate their occurrence, migration, and transformation behaviors in different environmental matrices. Nevertheless, numerous organic pollutants have been detected in aquatic environments, only a few of them have been toxicologically evaluated, and different types of organic pollutants exhibit different molecular mechanisms of toxic effects. Hence, it is necessary to study the toxicity of more organic pollutants for humans and organisms and associated molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, for some organic pollutants, they easily accumulate in aquatic organisms due to their persistence and refractory properties, thereby further complicating their toxicological mechanisms. Hence, a better understanding of the effects of organic pollutants in water environments is required to provide comprehensive inform and support to environmental managers, helping them to make decisions in environmental management.

For this 2nd edition, we seek manuscripts that will contribute to our knowledge of the occurrence and environmental risks of organic pollutants in aquatic environment. Papers may include—but are not limited to—toxicological effects and mechanisms of organic pollutants, the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of typical pollutants (toxic metals and organic pollutants) in aquatic ecosystems, ecological risk assessments and human health impact evaluations on organic pollutants, distribution, migration and transformation behaviors of organic pollutants.

Authors are invited to submit original research papers, reviews, and short communications. We would also welcome the submission of commentaries, reviews, and meta-analyses.

Dr. Chenglian Feng
Dr. Bingli Lei
Dr. Weiying Feng
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 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. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 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

  • organic pollutants
  • aquatic environment
  • risk assessment
  • toxicology
  • migration and transformation behaviors
  • toxic effects
  • environmental exposure

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 26370 KB  
Article
Water Quality Criteria and Ecological Risk Assessment of Fluoride for the Protection of Water Organisms in Surface Water
by Jiahao Zhang, Yuting Pu, Jing Ye, Xiaojun Hu and Chenglian Feng
Toxics 2026, 14(1), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics14010106 - 22 Jan 2026
Viewed by 452
Abstract
The widespread occurrence of fluoride pollution in water bodies and its toxic effects on aquatic organisms have raised significant environmental concerns; however, studies on water quality criteria for fluoride remain relatively limited. This study aimed to derive such criteria and assess the ecological [...] Read more.
The widespread occurrence of fluoride pollution in water bodies and its toxic effects on aquatic organisms have raised significant environmental concerns; however, studies on water quality criteria for fluoride remain relatively limited. This study aimed to derive such criteria and assess the ecological risks of fluoride in China’s surface waters, for the reference of readers. Acute and chronic toxicity data were collected globally, covering 34 species (14 families, 4 phyla) and 7 species (5 families, 3 phyla), respectively. Using species sensitivity distribution (SSD) methods, the short-term water quality criterion (SWQC) and long-term water quality criterion (LWQC) were derived as 17.47 mg/L and 3.334 mg/L. Ecological risk assessment based on the risk quotient (RQ) identified several high-risk areas among 32 major river and lake basins, with RQ values of 6.326 (Xihe River), 1.953 (Ebinur Lake), 1.368 (Chagan Lake), and 1.158 (Shahe River). At the provincial level, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region showed as no risk (RQ = 0.0001140), while other regions were classified as moderate or low risk. This study achieved its objectives of deriving water quality criteria for fluoride and conducting an ecological risk assessment for surface waters in China. It also highlights current limitations, including insufficient fluoride toxicity data and the frequent oversight of key indicators in existing assessments. Future research could focus on improving water quality criteria derivation and risk assessment methods through integrated predictive modeling and expanded toxicity datasets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occurrence and Environmental Risks of Organic Pollutants in Aquatic Environment—2nd Edition)
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19 pages, 17512 KB  
Article
Association Between PFAS Contamination and Zooplankton Community Structure in the Weihe River, China
by Jingnan Tan, Haichao Sha, Jinxi Song, Chao Han, Pingping Tian, Le Zhang, Xi Li and Qi Li
Toxics 2026, 14(1), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics14010091 - 19 Jan 2026
Viewed by 727
Abstract
Understanding the structure of zooplankton communities in water contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is essential to the conservation of aquatic biodiversity. This study focused on the Weihe River and systematically characterized the PFAS pollution. By employing environmental DNA metabarcoding, multivariate statistics, [...] Read more.
Understanding the structure of zooplankton communities in water contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is essential to the conservation of aquatic biodiversity. This study focused on the Weihe River and systematically characterized the PFAS pollution. By employing environmental DNA metabarcoding, multivariate statistics, and Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM), we systematically analyzed the associations between PFAS and zooplankton within the context of water parameters. The results showed that short-chain PFAS were the dominant PFAS compounds in the Weihe River (accounting for 70.89% of ΣPFAS), and that both PFAS and the zooplankton community exhibited similar spatial patterns. PLS-PM identified a key pathway: water chemistry promoted PFAS accumulation, which in turn exerted taxon-specific effects. Short-chain PFAS were primarily associated with Cercozoa, and path analysis indicated negative relationships, whereas long-chain PFAS were correlated with Ciliophora and Rotifera. Specific taxon within Ciliophora showed potential as bioindicators. Additionally, higher community relative abundance was associated with reduced diversity loss under anthropogenic stress, indicating a potential buffering response. Overall, short-chain PFAS, in combination with water parameters, were associated with higher ecological risk to zooplankton communities. This study highlights the importance of including indirect pathways and taxon-specific responses into risk assessments of emerging contaminants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occurrence and Environmental Risks of Organic Pollutants in Aquatic Environment—2nd Edition)
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