2.12 - New Advances in the Ecotoxicology of Coral Reef Organisms

Description

Coral reefs are highly sensitive, highly biodiverse coastal ecosystems which are vulnerable to the direct and indirect impacts of exposure to a spectrum of environmental contaminants. Exposures can be highly complex, with widespread declines in coral reef health attributed to the effects of regional inputs of land-based sources of pollution against a background of global climate change (ocean warming and /or acidification). Assessment of the impacts of these stressors on coral and other tropical marine organisms is a developing field of study where variable exposure, assessment methodologies, and the lack of a standardized approach limits the ability to clearly characterize impacts or relative sensitivity across studies, chemical contaminants, species, and life stages. The goal of this session is to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing on recent advances on the fate and effects of chemical contaminants in corals and other tropical marine species. Presentations on the occurrence of chemical contaminants in coral reef environments, impacts of current and emerging contaminants, the influence of co-stressors, and the development of toxicity test methods for environmental samples or pollutants with non-standard test organisms such as scleractinian corals are encouraged as are in vitro or non-animal model approaches.