Metals climate change impacts

Other important features which are closely linked to research and policy are die assessment of metal ecotoxicity (see Chapter 7.3) and climate change impact on aquatic ecosystems and their responses (Chapter 7.4). 

Metabolomics has made remarkable inroads into the environmental research community. Here, a major emphasis is to understand the impact that environmental stress, such as pollution and climate change, has on wildlife. Indeed, many government organizations monitor the prevalence of pollutants in certain species of wildlife as indicators of the exposure risk within the environment. Studies of Japanese medaka have been conducted to investigate the effects of trichloroethylene, a common environmental pollutant, and the pesticide dinoseb, on the development of fish embryos (44, 45). Similarly, cadmium toxicity has been examined in the bank vole and rat and has revealed changes in lipid metabolism that preceded classical nephrotoxicity (46, 47). Another study investigated the effects of environmental toxins on earthworms (48). In particular, the analysis of earthworm tissue extracts by NMR spectroscopy identified maltose as a potential biomarker for ecotoxicity within a metal-contaminated site. 

R. Bargagli, Trace metals in Antarctica related to climate change and increasing human impact. Res. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 166 (2000), 129-173. 

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