title: How can we quantify impacts of contaminants in marine ecosystems? The ICON project.
abstract: An international workshop on marine integrated contaminant monitoring (ICON) was organised to test a framework on integrated environmental assessment and simultaneously assess the status of selected European marine areas. Biota and sediment were sampled in selected estuarine, inshore and offshore locations encompassing marine habitats from Iceland to the Spanish Mediterranean. The outcome of the ICON project is reported in this special issue as method-oriented papers addressing chemical analyses, PAH metabolites, oxidative stress, biotransformation, lysosomal membrane stability, genotoxicity, disease in fish, and sediment assessment, as well as papers assessing specific areas. This paper provides a background and introduction to the ICON project, by reviewing how effects of contaminants on marine organisms can be monitored and by describing strategies that have been employed to monitor and assess such effects. Through the ICON project we have demonstrated the use of an integrating framework and gleaned more knowledge than ever before in any single field campaign about the impacts contaminants may have in European marine areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: ketilhy@ibv.uio.no.
authors.forename: Ketil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hylland
authors.affiliation: IFREMER, Laboratory of Ecotoxicology, Rue de l'Ile d'Yeu, B.P. 21105, 44311 Nantes Cédex 03, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Burgeot
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), Oceanographic Centre of Murcia, Varadero 1, PO Box 22, 30740 San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Concepción
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martínez-Gómez
authors.affiliation: Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology, Deichstr. 12, 27472 Cuxhaven, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Marine Scotland Science, Marine Laboratory, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen AB11 9DB, UK.
authors.forename: Craig D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: University of Iceland, Askja - Natural Science Building, Sturlugata 7, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland.
authors.forename: Jörundur
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Svavarsson
authors.affiliation: Cefas Weymouth Laboratory, Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset, DT4 8UB, UK.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Thain
authors.affiliation: Deltares, Marine and Coastal Systems, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH, Delft, The Netherlands; VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam Global Change Institute, Institute for Environmental Studies, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A Dick
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Vethaak
authors.affiliation: IFREMER, Laboratory of Ecotoxicology, Rue de l'Ile d'Yeu, B.P. 21105, 44311 Nantes Cédex 03, France.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gubbins
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D058735:Environmental Policy; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Biological effects; Biomarkers; Contaminants; ICON; Mediterranean sea; Monitoring; North sea