Review on Ecological Toxicity of Chemicals to Aquatic Animals

Nowadays,most of the aquatic toxicity experiments are conducted in conventional toxicity testing proceduresbased on the dose-response relationship under simplified laboratory conditions,and this method ignores the effect of envi-ronmental factors and the style of exposure in the natural water body. The influence of environmental factors are discussedsuch as the dissolved organic matter,suspended particles,mixture contaminants,p H,temperature,hardness,and otherwater quality characteristics on toxicity of chemicals to aquatic animals. It is summarized that we should consider about thefluctuating or pulsed exposure in the research,such as the toxicity mechanisms,post-exposure concentration,the dura-tion and frequency of pulses,and so on. And also an overview is presented of advantage and disadvantage of several ecologi-cal toxicity models for fluctuating or pulsed exposure. In order to make a better prediction and evaluation to the ecologicalrisk assessment of chemical pollutants,it is pointed out that more research should be put on the influence of environmentalfactors on toxicity of chemicals to aquatic animals,ecological toxicity models and the recovery of aquatic animals followingthe exposure.