Ecotoxicology

Ecotoxicology is alleged to be the integration of toxicology and ecology or, as Chapman (2002) suggested “ecology in the presence of toxicants”. It aims to predict the effects upon natural communities - ‘the ecosystem’- of stressors, be they anthropogenic in origin or otherwise. It differs from Environmental Toxicology in that it integrates the effects of stressors across all levels of biological organisation from the molecular to whole communities and ecosystems.