New paper in TREE

Michelangeli, M., Martin, J.M., Pinter-Wollman, N., Ioannou, C.C., McCallum, E.S., Bertram, M.G., Brodin, T., 2022. Predicting the impacts of chemical pollutants on animal groups. Trends Ecol. Evol. 37, 789–802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.05.009 | PDF

ABSTRACT

Chemical pollution is among the fastest-growing agents of global change. Synthetic chemicals with diverse modes-of-action are being detected in the tissues of wildlife and pervade entire food webs. Although such pollutants can elicit a range of sublethal effects on individual organisms, research on how chemical pollutants affect animal groups is severely lacking. Here we synthesise research from two related, but largely segregated fields – ecotoxicology and behavioural ecology – to examine pathways by which chemical contaminants could disrupt processes that govern the emergence, self-organisation, and collective function of animal groups. Our review provides a roadmap for prioritising the study of chemical pollutants within the context of sociality and highlights important methodological advancements for future research.