Adapting to Polluted Seas

Auteur

Pedro M. Costa is a marine biologist specializing in environmental toxicology. For more than fifteen years Costa researched the effects and responses of marine organisms to noxious chemicals at all levels of biological organisation: from DNA to ecosystem. As a toxicologist, Costa has held positions at several institutions, including the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and developed his research activities in fields as distinct as ecotoxicology, nanotoxicology and pharmacological toxicology. Costa has authored more than 100 publications within marine science and toxicology, with emphasis on histopathology, genotoxicology and 'omics', most of which focus on aquatic animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates. He is currently a professor in the Department of Life Sciences of the School of Science and Technology of NOVA University of Lisbon, where his team lend their expertise as environmental scientists, biotechnologists and toxicologists.

Texte du rabat

Adapting to Polluted Seas: The Co-evolutionary History of Toxicants and Marine Life presents a holistic approach to understanding the effects pollution has on our seas and how life has evolved around this ever-increasing threat and challenge. Through the book's six chapters, the author explores the following: How is pollution changing whole ecosystems? What makes some marine species more resilient to pollution? How is contamination of the global ocean affecting the evolution of detoxification pathways and others such as DNA repair and sex hormone regulation, for instance? How is this affect paradigmatic methods for risk assessment? As the oceans' vastness is not diluting our pollutants but rather trapping them as the ultimate sink of nearly every by-product of human civilization, marine environments are changing to precarious new equilibria with deleterious consequences to humans who directly or indirectly always depended on them.

Adapting to Polluted Seas is directed to a broad range of environmental scientists, and describes how pollution is shaping marine ecosystems, forcing organisms either to disappear or to adapt and evolve, often establishing a new state of ecological equilibrium that holds little resemblance to its predecessor. It can be used in teaching and training of young students and researchers, as well as in non-guided formation of non-academic technician and specialists (e.g. toxicologists, analysts and decision-makers). The compilation of critically-analysed case studies makes this book an especially important asset that can assist decision-making and the design of monitoring programs.

Contenu

1. An historical perspective of marine pollution
   
   2. Dilution is not the solution
   3. Chemical challenge is an ancient evolutionary pressure
   4. Pollution as a form of artificial selection
   5. Pollution shaping marine landscapes: from gene to ecosystem
   6. Marine monitoring. Old and new methods to quantify hazard and risk
   7. Conclusion and Future Outlook