**Assessment of Different Contaminants in Freshwater**

**Origin, Fate, and Ecological Impact**

Editors

**Diana M. P. Galassi Tiziana Di Lorenzo Grant Hose**

MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade • Manchester • Tokyo • Cluj • Tianjin


This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal *Water* (ISSN 2073-4441) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water/special issues/freshwater assessment).

For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below:

LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. *Journal Name* **Year**, *Article Number*, Page Range.

**ISBN 978-3-03943-000-0 (Hbk) ISBN 978-3-03943-001-7 (PDF)**

4052 Basel, Switzerland

Cover image courtesy of Diana Maria Paola Galassi.

c 2020 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications.

The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.

### **Contents**



### **About the Editors**

**Diana M. P. Galassi** is a zoologist and environmental biologist. Her main fields of research include the systematics, ecology, and biogeography of the Copepoda Cyclopoida, Harpacticoida, Calanoida, and Isopoda Microparasellidae (Crustacea); the study of the main distribution drivers for freshwater meiofauna in both surface waters and aquatic groundwater-dependent ecosystems in both natural and polluted conditions; the assessment of ecological and biogeographic factors that affect the spatial distribution of groundwater invertebrates at different spatial scales; and the role of groundwater invertebrates in groundwater biodiversity assessment and conservation. Her research is predominantly multidisciplinary, by coupling hydrochemistry, hydrogeology, statistical ecology, geostatistics, and biology of groundwater.

**Tiziana Di Lorenzo** is an aquatic ecologist and ecotoxicologist with a background in groundwater ecology. She carries out field studies aimed at evaluating groundwater ecosystem conditions with particular reference to porous aquifers subject to anthropic stress, including climate change. Her research deals mainly with freshwater meiofauna with an emphasis on groundwater crustaceans. She has recently focused on physiology studies with particular reference to respiration as a proxy of energy consumption of groundwater organisms. She explores the behavior of groundwater crustaceans with the aim of assessing behavioral changes under chemical stress. At her laboratories, Tiziana Di Lorenzo is supplied with an 80-μL and 2 mL multiplate microrespirometer, specifically designed for respirometric studies with small-sized invertebrates.

**Grant Hose** is an aquatic ecologist and ecotoxicologist. His research examines the response of groundwater and surface water ecosystems, invertebrate and microbial communities to environmental change, and develops tools for assessing change in ecosystem health and condition. He leads a diverse and enthusiastic research group who has undertaken field surveys and laboratory manipulative experiments to identify correlative and causal links to community change. His team has expertise in invertebrate taxonomy and using environmental DNA (eDNA) to characterize the composition and function of aquatic ecosystems. His current research focuses on the ecology of groundwater ecosystems and assessment of ecosystem health, ecological risk assessments and ecotoxicology for groundwater biota, and the roles of stygofauna in providing ecosystem services.

### **Preface to "Assessment of Different Contaminants in Freshwater"**

Freshwater ecosystems cover over 15% of the world's surface and provide pivotal ecosystem services that sustain human society. However, fast-growing anthropogenic activities have deleterious impacts on these ecosystems. In this Special Issue, we collect 10 studies that encompass five different factors of freshwater contamination: landfill leaks, nutrients, heavy metals, emerging organic contaminants, and marble slurry. Using different approaches, the studies detailed the direct and indirect effects that these contaminants have on a range of freshwater organisms, from bacteria to vertebrates. Although the papers here focused on specific case studies, they also exemplified common issues, such as expanding in groundwaters, hyporheic zones, streams, lakes, and ponds around the world. Every issue presented in this Special Issue is in dire need of being continuously discussed among scientists, end-users, and policymakers. To this end, the Special Issue presents a new free software suite to analyze ecological risk and conservation priority of freshwater ecosystems. The software can support local authorities in the preparation of management plans for freshwater basins pursuant in the water directives in Europe.

> **Diana M. P. Galassi, Tiziana Di Lorenzo, Grant Hose** *Editors*

#### *Editorial*
