Ecological Significance of Endocrine Disruption in Marine Invertebrates

摘要

Anthropogenic chemicals which can disrupt the hormonal (enocrine) systems of wildlife species are currently a major cause for concern. Reproductive hormone-receptor systems appear to be especially vulnerable. In the past few years, numerous effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on wildlife have emerged including changes in the sex of riverine fish, reproductive failure in birds and abnormali- ties in the reproductive organs of alligators and polar bears. Much less is known regarding endocrine disruption in marine invertebrates, the key structural and functional components of marine ecosystems.