Speciation and toxicity: introduction to a thematic set of papers arising out of a meeting held in London during 2004

Abstract

Five papers based on presentations from the meeting `Speciation and Toxicity’ are included in this special issue. The meeting was held at the Research School of Earth Sciences at UCL- Birkbeck on the 13th and 14th of September 2004. Sponsorship was generously donated by the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain & Ireland, the Environmental Mineralogy, Applied Mineralogy and Geochemistry Groups of the Mineralogical Society, the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), the Geochemical Society (via the GS MAP fund) and CAMLAB. A lively group of 63 participants and 8 keynote speakers, covering the disciplines of geochemistry, mineralogy, biology, ecology and toxicology, attended the meeting. Ecotoxicological studies are concerned with determining structural and functional changes in ecosystems under the influence of environmental chemicals, which include mineralogical and geochemical species, in water, soil, sediment and air. The toxicity of these species varies according to the nature of their complexing agents, solubility, oxidation state, co-ordination environment, and other factors. The three main meeting themes …