Ecotoxicology is the scientific discipline that studies the fate and effects of chemical, physical, and biological stressors on organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems in the environment. It integrates toxicology, ecology, environmental chemistry, and risk assessment to quantify exposure, dose–response relationships, and adverse outcome pathways under realistic environmental conditions. Ecotoxicology addresses contaminant transport, transformation, bioavailability, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification across trophic levels, and evaluates sublethal endpoints such as endocrine disruption, behavioral changes, and reproductive impairment. The field underpins environmental quality criteria, ecological risk assessment, and regulatory decision-making for pollutants including pesticides, metals, pharmaceuticals, and emerging contaminants.
Fish living downstream of wastewater treatment plants are accumulating antidepressants, opioids and other drugs of abuse in their bodies, according to a new study. Using a new analytical method they developed, a team of researchers ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 16, 2026
0
20
Fish living downstream of wastewater treatment plants are accumulating antidepressants, opioids and other drugs of abuse in their bodies, according to a new study. Using a new analytical method they developed, a team of researchers ...
Ecology
Apr 16, 2026
0
4
U.S. officials are taking a closer look at what's in America's drinking water, including microplastics and leftover medications.
Environment
Apr 6, 2026
0
13
A common antidepressant detected in rivers and streams worldwide is disrupting how fish learn, and the impact is strikingly one-sided. New research led by Monash University shows the drug amitriptyline impairs spatial learning ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 2, 2026
0
13
Analysis of Australia's highest-volume pesticide use has revealed that the majority of products widely used in Australian agriculture are banned in other parts of the world, according to a new study. Researchers from Griffith's ...
Ecology
Mar 26, 2026
0
13
A new paper investigates how raptors, or birds of prey like hawks and eagles, act as a sentinel species that can reveal the level of forever chemicals in the local environment. The forever chemicals, or PFAS, are especially ...
Environment
Mar 26, 2026
0
12
The bottom sediment of water bodies is an archive of all human activity. It is a reservoir of nutrients but also of harmful substances—and it can also turn into a source of emissions. "Most lakes tend to be remediated due ...
Environment
Mar 25, 2026
0
7
A study published in The Journal of Wildlife Management found varying risks to species due to mercury pollution across the United States' National Wildlife Refuge System, the world's largest network of lands and waters conserved ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 25, 2026
0
8
Many people use drugs, including paracetamol, on a regular basis to treat headaches. But only part of each drug is taken into the bloodstream, while the rest is released into the wastewater through our urine when we go to ...
Environment
Mar 24, 2026
0
9
Each year, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is responsible for an estimated 1.1 to 1.4 million deaths worldwide. Now, scientists have found evidence that the spread of AMR isn't always driven by bacteria evolving to resist ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 24, 2026
1
1689
