Monitoring and Assessment of Inorganic and Organic Microcontaminants in Soil, Sediment, Water Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Many organic micropollutants (e.g., veterinary and pesticide formulations, mycotoxines, PAHs, etc.) exert an increased load on our environment. After their application, the various active ingredients and formulating agents may enter the soil, reach groundwater levels, and appear in surface waters. The pollutants that appear in our environment can affect various non-target organisms. Possible toxic effects are highly affected by the water solubility and persistence of the chemical compounds and the potential formation of toxic metabolites. Due to their persistence, some chemical compounds remain detectable in environmental samples for extended periods, while others appear in the environmental matrix due to excessive momentary use. Aquatic organisms are outstandingly exposed to water contaminants because their contact with xenobiotics in their aqueous habitat is unavoidable.

Thus, environmental risk assessment is important for aquatic ecosystems because the release and accumulation of pollutants pose an environmental hazard.

The Special Issue of Environments aims to summarise the importance of ecotoxicological and environmental analysis studies providing appropriate data for a complete risk assessment of organic and inorganic micropollutants, including (but not limited to):

• Monitoring the occurrence of pollutants and their decomposition products in surface water and groundwater;
• Monitoring the fate of pollutants in the aquatic ecosystem;
• Novel or inventive methods of chemical analysis in water, including chromatography, immunoassay, molecular biology, sensors, and other means, including novel sample preparation methods;
• Methods of toxicological or ecotoxicological assessment, including cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, mutagenicity, and endocrine disruption, combined with chemical analysis;
• Ecotoxicological assessment of organic and inorganic pollutants in aquatic ecosystems through food chains;
• Modeling the risk of pollutants in aquatic ecosystems;
• Assessment of remediation possibilities;
• Risk assessment issues of the aquatic ecosystem.

Dr. Mária Mörtl
Guest Editor

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Environments is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 1800 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.

• aquatic ecosystem
• ecotoxicology
• environmental risk assessment
• food chain
• environmental fate
• organic and inorganic micropollutants
• analytical chemistry