Aquatic Emerging Contaminants and Their Ecotoxicological Consequences

Dear Colleagues,

We propose a Topic concerning the assessment of emerging contaminants in aquatic ecosystems, as well as their ecotoxicological effects on aquatic species. This Topic groups scientific peer reviewed articles from MDPI journals such as Toxics, Waters, Journal of Xenobiotics, and Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. In this context, emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, nanoparticles, and (micro)plastics are not included in regular monitoring processes and represent an increasing global threat to the aquatic environment. For this reason, based on the pivotal approach in ecotoxicology named Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA), which includes the monitoring and the effects of pollutants, the aims of the proposed Topic are: (i) the monitoring of emerging contaminants in both marine and freshwaters, with particular attention given to (micro)plastics, and (ii) the evaluation of adverse effects on aquatic species at different levels of biological organization (from molecular to population one) using the following approaches:

• classical ecotoxicological tests;
• wide batteries of biomarkers;
• “omics” techniques.

In this field, research papers, reviews, and short communications will be accepted. Concerning original articles, only studies concerning the evaluation of environmental concentrations or, in general, with a high ecological impact will be considered. This Topic will aim to collect articles to contribute to filling the knowledge gap relating to the ecotoxicology of emerging contaminants.

Prof. Dr. François Gagné
Dr. Stefano Magni
Prof. Dr. Valerio Matozzo
Topic Editors