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Discussing Behavioural Ecotoxicology in the Light of Some Environmentally Available Anthropogenic Contaminants and their Influence on Behavioural Alterations in Animals

Preprints.org 2026 Score: 50 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Chayan Munshi, Farhan Jamil, Ishika Pal, Swapnanil Mondal, Bithi Khan, Upama Das

Summary

This review paper summarizes research showing that common pollutants like pesticides, heavy metals, plastics, and pharmaceuticals can change how animals behave by affecting their nervous systems. Scientists study these behavioral changes in animals because they help us understand how these same pollutants might harm brain function in humans. This research is important because it gives us early warning signs about which environmental chemicals could be damaging our health.

Behavioural ecotoxicology is a field of applied ecotoxicology, where researchers consider the alterations in the behavioural markers due to the impact of environmental toxicants or contaminants. In fact, understanding the changes in behavioural manifestations helps to understand the respective underlying neurological mechanisms in the organisms and therefore, it effectively helps to describe or predict the neuro-behavioural context of behavioural modifications due to exposure to anthropogenic pollutants. Through this review we are addressing how environmentally available chemicals (such as pesticides, heavy metals (or metalloids), plastics and also pharmaceuticals can have significant acute and/or long-term impact on the behavioural profile of organisms (bioindicator species).

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