Pollution

Emerging pollutants such as PFAS, pharmaceuticals, micro- and nanoplastics, pesticides, and engineered nanoparticles are increasingly detected in terrestrial and aquatic environments, where they can disrupt the innate immunity of invertebrates—including earthworms—whose defense systems rely on coelomocytes, lysozyme activity, the phenoloxidase cascade, antimicrobial peptides, and oxidative-stress responses. Research on their effects involves exposing model species such as earthworms (Eisenia fetida/E. andrei), Daphnia, bivalves (Perna, Mytilus), crustaceans (Scylla, Penaeus), or aquatic insect larvae to realistic concentrations of single pollutants and mixtures, followed by measurement of immune biomarkers like coelomocyte density and viability, hemocyte/immune-cell profiles, phenoloxidase and lysozyme activity, reactive oxygen species, antioxidant enzymes, and AMP gene expression. Laboratory studies typically use acute and chronic exposures in soil or water, complemented by pathogen-challenge tests to assess functional immune competence. Field or mesocosm surveys can further link environmental pollutant loads with immune impairment in resident species. Analytical chemistry tools (LC-MS/MS for pharmaceuticals and PFAS, GC-MS for pesticide residues, FTIR for microplastics) verify exposure levels, while statistical approaches such as mixed-effects models and mixture-toxicity frameworks help detect additive or synergistic effects. Overall, integrating earthworms with aquatic invertebrate models strengthens ecological risk assessment by revealing how emerging contaminants affect immune function across soil and aquatic ecosystems.