Fish Ecotoxicology (Experientia Supplementum)

Book Description:

In the last twenty years, ecotoxicology has successfully established its place as an interdisciplinary science concerned with the effects of chemicals on populations and ecosystems, thus bridging the gap between biological and environmental sciences, ecology, chemistry and traditional toxicology. In modern ecotoxicology, fish have become the major vertebrate model, and a tremendous body of information has been accumulated. This volume attempts to summarize our present knowledge in several fields of primary ecotoxicological interest ranging from the use of (ultra)structural modifications of selected cell systems as sources of biomarkers for environmental impact over novel approaches to monitoring the impact of xenobiotics with fish in vitro systems such as primary and permanent fish cell cultures, the importance of early life-stage tests with fish, the bioaccumulation of xenobiotics in fish, the origin of liver neoplastic lesions in small fish species, immunocytochemical approaches to monitoring effects in cytochrome P450-related biotransformation, the impact of heavy metals in soft water systems, the environmental toxicology of organotin compounds, oxidative stress in fish by environmental pollutants to effects by estrogenic substances in aquatic systems. This collection of up-to-date reviews thus covers a broad range of topics important in current ecotoxicological research and should be of interest not only to specialists in ecotoxicology, but also to scientists and students in related fields of environmental sciences.