A broad‐taxa approach as an important concept in ecotoxicological studies and pollution monitoring

Abstract

Aquatic invertebrates play a pivotal role in (eco)toxicological assessments because they offer ethical, cost‐effective and repeatable testing options. Additionally, their significance in the food chain and their ability to represent diverse aquatic ecosystems make them valuable subjects for (eco)toxicological studies. To ensure consistency and comparability across studies, international (eco)toxicology guidelines have been used to establish standardised methods and protocols for data collection, analysis and interpretation. However, the current standardised protocols primarily focus on a limited number of aquatic invertebrate species, mainly from Arthropoda, Mollusca and Annelida. These protocols are suitable for basic toxicity screening, effectively assessing the immediate and severe effects of toxic substances on organisms. For more comprehensive and ecologically relevant assessments, particularly those addressing long‐term effects and ecosystem‐wide impacts, we recommended the use of a broader diversity of species, since the present choice of taxa exacerbates the limited scope of basic ecotoxicological studies.This review provides a comprehensive overview of (eco)toxicological studies, focusing on major aquatic invertebrate taxa and how they are used to assess the impact of chemicals in diverse aquatic environments. The present work supports the use of a broad‐taxa approach in basic environmental assessments, as it better represents the natural populations inhabiting various ecosystems. Advances in omics and other biochemical and computational techniques make the broad‐taxa approach more feasible, enabling mechanistic studies on non‐model organisms. By combining these approaches with in vitro techniques together with the broad‐taxa approach, researchers can gain insights into less‐explored impacts of pollution, such as changes in population diversity, the development of tolerance and transgenerational inheritance of pollution responses, the impact on organism phenotypic plasticity, biological invasion outcomes, social behaviour changes, metabolome changes, regeneration phenomena, disease susceptibility and tissue pathologies. This review also emphasises the need for harmonised data‐reporting standards and minimum annotation checklists to ensure that research results are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR), maximising the use and reusability of data. The ultimate goal is to encourage integrated and holistic problem‐focused collaboration between diverse scientific disciplines, international standardisation organisations and decision‐making bodies, with a focus on transdisciplinary knowledge co‐production for the One‐Health approach.

Polystyrene Micro- and Nanoplastics (PS MNPs): A Review of Recent Advances in the Use of -Omics in PS MNP Toxicity Studies on Aquatic Organisms

“…Several studies of PS MNPs and their effects at the transcriptomic level have been performed on aquatic invertebrates (56.25%, see Figure 2), since they offer ethical, cost-effective, and repeatable testing [74]. One of the most widely used invertebrate for these studies is the freshwater crustacean Daphnia spp.…”

Editorial: The physiological response of aquatic invertebrates to pollution

“…Therefore, the detection of the physiological responses to pollutants and their quantification represents an important and useful tool to assess the quality of the environment and to support biodiversity conservation strategies. Among aquatic organisms, invertebrates represent most of the species, with 97% of the species living in marine habitats and 3% in fresh-water habitats ( Rosner et al, 2023 ). They perform crucial ecological functions in all aquatic ecosystems ( Palumbi et al, 2009 ) having colonized a large spectrum of ecological niches.…”