ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION (2018)

Editorial

Soils and sediments constitute an important environmental compartment and represent substrate for a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic species. They also are the main repositories of chemicals introduced in the environment, where they reach concentrations higher than those observed in the water column, for example.

Historically, the accumulation of chemical substances in soils and sediments were not of concern; substances removed from other environmental compartments were thought to be immobilized in the soil and sediment particles. However, during the late 20th century, a set of studies demonstrated that chemicals retained in soils and sediments could be transferred to the biota and produce negative biological effects. Since them, efforts have been done worldwide to determine how soils and sediments adsorb, transform and release the chemical substances, together with the biological and ecological effects caused by the contamination of this compartment. Much have been done with respect of this theme, however there is still a huge need of knowledge, including the determination of natural levels of chemicals in different soils and sediments, the physical and chemical processes related with the absorption and desorption of substances from sediments, the factors related to the bioavailability of chemicals from sediments; the biological effects induced by soil and sediment contamination (from molecular to ecosystem level); thus use of information to monitor the environmental quality or to establish policies to control the pollution or to the environmental restoring.

This Special Issue from EEC is an attempt to stimulate the research on the contamination and ecotoxicology of soils and sediments, providing some more sound information for other researchers, students, decision makers and general public. Fortunately, we received a good number of articles, covering different aspects of this theme, and we really hope they serve for advancing the knowledge in this field. We thank for all the authors who contributed to this Special Issue, as well as the anonymous reviewers who dedicated part of their time to improve the submitted manuscripts.

In this Editorial, we would like to express our deep thankfulness to Dr. Peter Chapman (in memoriam) for his contribution to the development of the field of sediment ecotoxicology, and especially for his kind attention to the needs of researchers from developing countries. Unfortunately, Peter suddenly passed out in September 26, 2017. In many occasions, I witnessed his efforts to help colleagues and students from Latin America, or his involvement to divulge SETAC for Latin American researchers (with materials in Portuguese and Spanish). Peter was an inspiration for all of us, and now we must keep this field alive and evolving. This Special Issue has a paper wrote by Peter as a guest editor, probably his last one. This paper was sent to us just a few weeks after I had personally invited him, and shows his enthusiasm and availability to contribute to this field of science. On behalf of the Board of Editors, I feel really honored for having edited Peter’s last contribution to the EEC.

We also hope you all enjoy this Special Issue and that the papers are useful for you.
Denis Abessa – Guest Editor