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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2025) | Viewed by 4369

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Zongming Ren

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Guest Editor

Institute of Environment and Ecology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250358, China
Interests: ecotoxicology; aquatic toxicology; biodiversity; online monitoring technology; individual responses; toxic effects
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Chunlei Xia

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Guest Editor

Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
Interests: automated biological monitoring; biological image analysis; behavioral tracking and analysis; automated bio-monitoring systems; marine monitoring systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Chemicals have been widely used in agricultural crops, forests, and wetlands in the last 30 years. However, the extensive use and discharge of these chemicals in aquatic environments will induce aquatic toxicology and may impair biological communities. Due to the lack of target specificity, these chemicals can cause severe and persistent toxic effects on non-target aquatic species, including invertebrates and vertebrates.

This Special Issue will cover new monitoring technologies, mathematical analysis methods, and aquatic environmental assessments of such aquatic toxicology. Increased knowledge and understanding of these issues have led to the development of new monitoring, analysis, and assessment technologies based on biological and chemical methods. We invite investigators to contribute original research articles, as well as review articles, that will stimulate the continuing development of the research areas described above.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Type analyses of environmental chemicals in the aquatic environment;
The transport and transformation of chemicals in aquatic environments;
Scientific methods for monitoring and assessing aquatic toxicology: scaling methods, the use of biological indicators/biomarkers, dynamic and commitment models, pollution indices, etc.;
The biological and chemical characteristics of the water pollution caused by different chemicals;
The design and development of sampling techniques, analysis methods, and monitoring systems of chemicals in groundwater and surface water;
Methods and procedures for pollution risk assessment in aquatic environments;
The mechanisms of cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and tumorigenicity exerted by environmental chemicals in the aquatic environment;
The use of wastewater and other qualities of water;
Mitigation strategies for nanoparticles in water pollution;
The impacts of monitoring and assessment methods as a result of new trends in aquatic toxicology;
New laboratory techniques of emerging pollutant quantification;
Recent developments in water, sediment, and tissue quality guidelines;
The marine environment and toxicology.

Prof. Dr. Zongming Ren
Dr. Chunlei Xia
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. Water 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 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

aquatic toxicology
online monitoring technology
individual responses
toxic effects
water pollution
biodiversity
ecosystems

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3196 KB

Open AccessArticle

Rapid Chemical Remediation of Freshwater Enclosures Treated with Conventional Heavy Crude Oil Spills Followed by Enhanced Monitored Natural Recovery

by Madeline J. Stanley, Lauren Timlick, Lisa E. Peters, José Luis Rodríguez Gil, Gregg Tomy, Elliott Taylor, Sonya Havens and Vince P. Palace

Water 2026, 18(3), 363; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18030363 - 31 Jan 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 433

Abstract

Canada is a top producer and exporter of crude oil but also has many in-land freshwater ecosystems that need protection using non-invasive remediation methods that are effective in sensitive environments. To assess the efficacy of enhanced monitored natural recovery (eMNR) as a secondary remediation strategy for freshwater oil spills, we conducted controlled spills of conventional heavy crude oil (CHV) in a freshwater lake at the IISD-Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario, Canada, in 2021. Three shoreline enclosures (5 × 10 m) were deployed on a wetland shoreline and treated with ~1.5 kg of weathered CHV. Four days later primary recovery of oil was conducted using shoreline washing followed by secondary remediation of residual oil using eMNR. Three unoiled, reference enclosures were also treated with shoreline washing but not secondary remediation. Polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) in water and sediment, and general water quality were monitored in the enclosures for 412 days after oiling. Total PACs in the water, mostly of 2- and 3-ring alkylated compounds, peaked three days after oiling (1188 ± 251 ng/L), declined to half of initial concentrations 8.26–11.75 days later and to near background levels by day 73. Total PACs were elevated in sediment of the oiled enclosures until day 70 likely due to sorption or settling oil but were heterogenous and influenced by pyrogenic compounds. Results from this study suggest that eMNR may be an effective remediation method following primary recovery efforts at sensitive aquatic sites where mechanical recovery is contraindicated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Studies on Toxic Effects in Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems)

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13 pages, 1436 KB

Open AccessArticle

Lipid Metabolism and Oxidative Stress Altered in Crucian Carp (Carassius auratus) Following Exposure to Microplastics Under Laboratory and Field Conditions

by Yuxuan Wu, Zeda Song, Yuguang Lu, Xi Wang, Lihui An and Hongwei Wang

Water 2026, 18(2), 274; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18020274 - 21 Jan 2026

Viewed by 445

Abstract

Microplastics are pervasive in aquatic environments; however, their impacts on aquatic organisms at environmentally relevant concentrations remain poorly understood, particularly under field conditions. To address this gap, we employed high-throughput sequencing to assess these impacts under both field and laboratory conditions using crucian carp (Carassius auratus) as a model organism. Following a 4-week exposure in situ, the abundance of intestinal microplastics slightly increased from an initial level of 55.00 ± 59.73 items/fish to 72.67 ± 27.50 items/fish (p > 0.05). Accordingly, a total of 3036 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the hepatic transcriptome, with notable enrichment in pathways related to lipid metabolism and oxidative stress. Furthermore, a positive correlation between intestinal microplastic abundance and exposure concentration was observed in fish following a 2-week laboratory exposure to polyamide (PA), with intestinal burdens ranging from 7.50 ± 3.54 to 367.50 ± 17.68 items/fish. The number of DEGs in the hepatic transcriptome, ranging from 41 to 380 items, demonstrated a nonlinear relationship with microplastic levels. Furthermore, these DEGs were primarily enriched in pathways associated with lipid metabolism and oxidative stress, including the PPAR signaling pathway (ko03320) and fatty acid degradation (ko00071). This suggests that microplastics at environmental levels may have detrimental effects on organisms through perturbations in lipid metabolism and oxidative stress. As expected, these findings provide essential insights for evaluating the ecological risks linked to microplastic pollution at environmental levels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Studies on Toxic Effects in Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems)

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12 pages, 2793 KB

Open AccessArticle

Toxicological Efficiency Evaluation of the ASEC Technology for Contaminated Mining Water Using Lemna minor

by Mercedes Conradi, J. Emilio Sánchez-Moyano, Estefanía Bonnail, T. Ángel DelValls and Inmaculada Riba

Water 2025, 17(15), 2175; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17152175 - 22 Jul 2025

Viewed by 1287

Abstract

The Adiabatic Sonic Evaporation and Crystallization (ASEC) technology was developed as a disruptive zero-liquid discharge system to treat contaminated mining effluents. This study evaluates its ecotoxicological efficacy using Lemna minor, a freshwater macrophyte, as a sensitive bioindicator. Acute growth inhibition tests were conducted using OECD Guideline 221. Lemna minor was exposed for 7 days to untreated and treated effluents from the Tharsis mine and the Tinto River in southern Spain. The results revealed 100% inhibition of frond growth and biomass in untreated samples (pH < 2.6), indicating acute toxicity. In contrast, effluents treated with ASEC showed growth and biomass accumulation statistically indistinguishable from the control, confirming the system’s efficiency in reducing toxicity and restoring water quality. These findings support the environmental viability of ASEC technology for mine and port effluent treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Studies on Toxic Effects in Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems)

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14 pages, 3426 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Application of an Infrared-Based ECG Acquisitor in an Online Healthy Assessment System: The Effect of Temperature on Cardiac Function in Carp (Cyprinus carpio)

by Miao Yu and Zongming Ren

Water 2025, 17(9), 1387; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17091387 - 5 May 2025

Viewed by 1560

Abstract

Carp (Cyprinus carpio) is one of the major farmed fish species in China. In recent years, the increasing water temperature caused by global warming has caused physiological stress in fish, which in turn affects the heart function and health of the fish. Therefore, we hypothesized that the electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters of carp could reflect the temperature-induced stress. To test this hypothesis, in this study, the real-time online cardiac function assessment system (OCFAS) was used to monitor the electrocardiogram signals (heart rate, P wave, R wave, T wave, P-R interval, QRS complex, Q-T interval) of carp at different temperatures. The results showed that the heart rate of the fish increased with the temperature within a certain range. However, when the temperature exceeded this range, the cardiac function of the fish was significantly impaired. The P-R interval was shortened with the increase in the body temperature, and there was a negative correlation between them. This study emphasizes the importance of using real-time online fish ECG assessments to evaluate cardiac health, and it further improves the evaluation index system for ECG in fish. At the same time, the temperature in aquaculture and water environments requires special attention to avoid its adverse effects on the health of aquatic populations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Studies on Toxic Effects in Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems)

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