Hormesis as a Hidden Hand in Global Environmental Change?

InfoMetricsFiguresRef. Environmental Science & TechnologyASAPArticle This publication is Open Access under the license indicated. Learn More CiteCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore citation options ShareShare onFacebookX (Twitter)WeChatLinkedInRedditEmailJump toExpandCollapse ViewpointFebruary 5, 2025Hormesis as a Hidden Hand in Global Environmental Change?Click to copy article linkArticle link copied!Matthias C. Rillig*Matthias C. RilligFreie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, 14195 Berlin, GermanyBerlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, Germany*[email protected]More by Matthias C. RilligView Biographyhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3541-7853Anika LehmannAnika LehmannFreie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, 14195 Berlin, GermanyBerlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, GermanyMore by Anika LehmannMohan BiMohan BiFreie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, 14195 Berlin, GermanyBerlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, GermanyMore by Mohan Bihttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0255-1300Open PDFEnvironmental Science & TechnologyCite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2025, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXXClick to copy citationCitation copied!https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.5c01101https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c01101Published February 5, 2025 Publication History Received 22 January 2025Published online 5 February 2025article-commentary© 2025 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under CC-BY 4.0 . License Summary*You are free to share (copy and redistribute) this article in any medium or format and to adapt (remix, transform, and build upon) the material for any purpose, even commercially within the parameters below:Creative Commons (CC): This is a Creative Commons license.Attribution (BY): Credit must be given to the creator.View full license*DisclaimerThis summary highlights only some of the key features and terms of the actual license. It is not a license and has no legal value. Carefully review the actual license before using these materials. This publication is licensed underCC-BY 4.0 . License Summary*You are free to share(copy and redistribute) this article in any medium or format and to adapt(remix, transform, and build upon) the material for any purpose, even commercially within the parameters below: Creative Commons (CC): This is a Creative Commons license. 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License Summary*You are free to share(copy and redistribute) this article in any medium or format and to adapt(remix, transform, and build upon) the material for any purpose, even commercially within the parameters below: Creative Commons (CC): This is a Creative Commons license. Attribution (BY): Credit must be given to the creator. View full license *DisclaimerThis summary highlights only some of the key features and terms of the actual license. It is not a license and has no legal value. Carefully review the actual license before using these materials. ACS Publications© 2025 The Authors. Published by American Chemical SocietySubjectswhat are subjectsArticle subjects are automatically applied from the ACS Subject Taxonomy and describe the scientific concepts and themes of the article.Climate changeContaminationDepositionEnvironmental modelingEnvironmental pollutionHumans have produced and are releasing a staggering amount of chemicals into the environment, with one study estimating that there are at least 350 000 chemicals and mixtures being produced industrially. (1) Many of these substances are environmentally available, if only at very low concentrations, and may be toxic, with potential toxicity known for only a tiny fraction of this list of potential pollutants. This low-dose occurrence of a potentially large number of substances, at various temporally dynamic compositions in probably all ecosystems, gives rise to an intriguing and largely unstudied possibility: that these substances give rise to hormetic responses in ecosystems. Hormesis describes a positive response of an organism to very low doses of a toxicant while higher doses induce negative effects (Figure 1A). (2,3)Figure 1Figure 1. (A) Hormetic responses mean a response to a negative influence is positive at very low doses. (B) If widespread, such hermetic effects could lead to ecosystem process rates being affected, leading to an overestimation or underestimation of the effect of other factors of global change. (C) When environmental drivers are exceeding the hormetic threshold, the ecosystem state can undergo a transition from a stable state to an unstable state.High Resolution ImageDownload MS PowerPoint SlideHormesis is becoming increasingly well documented in a range of organisms, including plants, animals, and microbes, (4) and is mechanistically understood in many cases, but still controversial in the field of human health. (5) Recently, hormesis has also been observed at community and ecosystem levels, including forest ecosystems experiencing low levels of climate stressors, (6) but how ecological communities respond to several co-occurring low-dose substances is generally not well-known. Are such low-dose putatively positive effects additive, synergistic, or antagonistic when a large number of substances are present? (7) Importantly, different substances will cause hormetic responses in different organisms and under different settings, such that a higher diversity of low-level contaminants might trigger a greater number of low-dose positive responses in a larger proportion of an ecosystem's biodiversity. It is therefore possible that widespread, low-level environmental contamination leads to various short-term stimulatory responses, enhancing ecosystem functions.Hormesis and Global Environmental ChangeClick to copy section linkSection link copied!Human-caused environmental effects are often not subtle, collectively known as global environmental change, (8) consisting of factors such as climate change, increased atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, plastic pollution, invasive species, heavy metals, and organic chemicals. Deleterious effects of such global change factors on organisms, communities, and ecosystem processes are well-documented (8,9) and typically address larger effect sizes arising from higher concentrations, in the case of chemical factors. Could the ever-present background of potentially positive responses caused by widespread low-level chemical contamination ameliorate responses to other factors of global change? This would run counter to the current expectation that chemical pollution only worsens effects of other anthropogenic influences, (10) based on the notion that chemical pollutants represent additional pressures to organisms and ecosystems, an idea that has increasing empirical support, albeit based on higher concentrations of pollutants. Testing this hypothesis about hormesis is important, because we may have underestimated the true extent of other global change effects (Figure 1B), meaning the effects of many other factors of global change (including climate change) with their often negative consequences on biota and ecosystems could be partially masked by these stimulatory background effects. Analogously, global change factors with nominally positive effects on certain process components (such as temperature or nitrogen deposition) could have been overestimated in their effects if the stimulation stemming from hormesis were a part of this response.The hormetic effects of various environmental factors may contribute to the emergence of tipping points in ecosystems in response to global change (Figure 1C). Similar to how low-dose chemical exposures stimulate cellular protective mechanisms, hormesis in ecological contexts can enhance organismal performance and resilience to environmental stressors, (6) potentially mitigating the collective impact of multiple stress factors. However, as the number or intensity of these low-dose stressors exceeds the hormetic threshold, the overall system response may shift dramatically. This transition occurs due to not only the disappearance of the protective "masking effect" but also the cumulative negative impacts of previously beneficial stressors. Therefore, understanding the hormetic effects of environmental factors is crucial for identifying early warning signals of potential ecosystem tipping points.It is important to emphasize that both observational and experimental work in the environmental sciences would be affected by such unknown hormesis effects. The case is clear for observational studies, because the low-concentration effects would typically go unnoticed in the study of dominant factors, and in many surveys, such low-level concentrations of a wide range of background chemical pollutants would not even be measured. The same, however, is also true for highly mechanistic experimental work, because in the Anthropocene there will inevitably be a background of contamination in any environmental substrate (the ambient level), (11) except for in the most artificial circumstances.Open QuestionsClick to copy section linkSection link copied!While this is perhaps a surprising twist to the story of environmental pollution, there are very many open questions. The most important one is clearly if this amelioration of global change effects by hormesis really does exist, and if so what its limits are, especially given the large number of toxicants and an equally growing list of other factors of global change. At what critical point, with regard to concentration, toxicity, and exposure duration to such a pollutant background, does the potentially ameliorating effect of the low-concentration pollution flip to become an additional burden for organisms? Can short-term stimulatory effects really help with long-term stressors that are characteristic of global change, including factors of climate change? To what extent do these stimulatory effects on organisms propagate to the level of biological communities and their composition and to measurable ecosystem process rates? If effects do propagate to the ecosystem level, it seems unlikely that all functions of aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems are affected equally, and thus, it is important to study which ecosystem processes are particularly affected and why. It seems entirely possible that some ecosystem processes (or compartments) will be experiencing a stimulation, whereas for others, the presence of these background pollutants has negative consequences.Conclusions and the Way ForwardClick to copy section linkSection link copied!To address all of these questions, a concerted international research effort will likely be needed. The path forward should be a combination of experiments, observational studies, and modeling. Carefully executed experiments will be needed to establish causality of effects and to study underlying mechanisms of potential hormesis. Importantly, these should be conducted at various levels of complexity, from in vitro lab experiments to mesocosms allowing access to ecosystem dynamics. Such experiments should be complemented by large-scale observational studies based on high-resolution environmental analytics, which, using machine learning, could be used to test for the existence of signals of hormesis across broad environmental and biogeographical gradients. Modeling can be used to integrate findings of experiments and observational data and to inform risk assessments, and to formulate predictions of future impacts. In this work, it will also be important to carefully control the narrative, especially in communicating with the public. Under no circumstances should these hormesis effects be regarded as a "silver lining", something positive, in the sense of being desirable. These are still all pollutant effects, just that in a particular concentration range and situation they may be stimulatory; thus, it will always be important to reduce the levels of these pollutants as much as possible. A necessary first step will be an open mind about studying hormesis, and for researchers to accept the operational risk of using very low doses of chemicals. Widespread adoption of this research by environmental scientists may unlock critical insights into planetary health.Author InformationClick to copy section linkSection link copied!Corresponding AuthorMatthias C. Rillig - Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, 14195 Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, Germany; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3541-7853; Email: [email protected]AuthorsAnika Lehmann - Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, 14195 Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, GermanyMohan Bi - Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, 14195 Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, Germany; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0255-1300Author ContributionsM.C.R. wrote the first draft of the paper, and M.B. and A.L. added additional ideas and designed the figure.NotesThe authors declare no competing financial interest.BiographyClick to copy section linkSection link copied!Matthias C. RilligHigh Resolution ImageDownload MS PowerPoint SlideMatthias C. Rillig studied biology in Germany and Scotland and obtained a Ph.D. in California, USA. After nine years of being on the faculty of the University of Montana, he joined Freie Universität Berlin, where he is now a professor of ecology. He is director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research. Matthias won an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council, is a fellow of the Ecological Society of America, and is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, and Academia Europaea. His lab focuses on soil ecology, human-caused effects on soils and their biodiversity, and emerging environmental challenges.ReferencesClick to copy section linkSection link copied! This article references 11 other publications. 1Wang, Z.; Walker, G. W.; Muir, D. C. G.; Nagatani-Yoshida, K. Toward a Global Understanding of Chemical Pollution: A First Comprehensive Analysis of National and Regional Chemical Inventories. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2020, 54 (5), 2575– 2584, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b06379 Google Scholar1Toward a Global Understanding of Chemical Pollution: A First Comprehensive Analysis of National and Regional Chemical InventoriesWang, Zhanyun; Walker, Glen W.; Muir, Derek C. G.; Nagatani-Yoshida, KakukoEnvironmental Science & Technology (2020), 54 (5), 2575-2584CODEN: ESTHAG; ISSN:0013-936X. (American Chemical Society) Chems., while benefitting society, may be released during their life cycle and possibly harm humans and ecosystems. Chem. pollution is mentioned as a planetary boundaries within which humanity can safely operate, but is not comprehensively understood. This work analyzed 22 chem. inventories from 19 countries and regions to achieve a first comprehensive overview of chems. on the market as an essential first step toward a global understanding of chem. pollution. More than 350,000 chems. and chem. mixts. have been registered for prodn. and use, up to three times as many as previously estd. and with substantial differences across countries/regions. A noteworthy finding was that identities of many chems. remain publicly unknown because they are claimed as confidential (>50,000) or ambiguously described (up to 70,000). Coordinated efforts by all stake-holders including scientists from different disciplines are urgently needed; new areas of interest and opportunities are highlighted. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADC%252BB3cXhsFaitL0%253D&md5=5f731031fadaccfe5bd723138725c8a72Agathokleous, E.; Kitao, M.; Calabrese, E. J. Hormesis: Highly Generalizable and Beyond Laboratory. Trends in Plant Science 2020, 25 (11), 1076– 1086, DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2020.05.006 Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.3Stebbing, A. R. D. Hormesis ─ The Stimulation of Growth by Low Levels of Inhibitors. Science of The Total Environment 1982, 22 (3), 213– 234, DOI: 10.1016/0048-9697(82)90066-3 Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.4Erofeeva, E. A. Environmental Hormesis: From Cell to Ecosystem. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health 2022, 29, 100378, DOI: 10.1016/j.coesh.2022.100378 Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.5Bondy, S. C. The Hormesis Concept: Strengths and Shortcomings. Biomolecules 2023, 13 (10), 1512, DOI: 10.3390/biom13101512 Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.6Erofeeva, E. A. Interactions of Forest Carbon Sink and Climate Change in the Hormesis Paradigm. J. For. Res. 2024, 35 (1), 144, DOI: 10.1007/s11676-024-01795-7 Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.7Belz, R. G.; Cedergreen, N.; Sørensen, H. Hormesis in Mixtures ─ Can It Be Predicted?. Science of The Total Environment 2008, 404 (1), 77– 87, DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.06.008 Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.8Sage, R. F. Global Change Biology: A Primer. Global Change Biology 2020, 26 (1), 3– 30, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14893 Google Scholar8Global change biology: A primerSage Rowan FGlobal change biology (2020), 26 (1), 3-30 ISSN:. Because of human action, the Earth has entered an era where profound changes in the global environment are creating novel conditions that will be discernable far into the future. One consequence may be a large reduction of the Earth's biodiversity, potentially representing a sixth mass extinction. With effective stewardship, the global change drivers that threaten the Earth's biota could be alleviated, but this requires clear understanding of the drivers, their interactions, and how they impact ecological communities. This review identifies 10 anthropogenic global change drivers and discusses how six of the drivers (atmospheric CO2 enrichment, climate change, land transformation, species exploitation, exotic species invasions, eutrophication) impact Earth's biodiversity. Driver impacts on a particular species could be positive or negative. In either case, they initiate secondary responses that cascade along ecological lines of connection and in doing so magnify the initial impact. The unique nature of the threat to the Earth's biodiversity is not simply due to the magnitude of each driver, but due to the speed of change, the novelty of the drivers, and their interactions. Emphasizing one driver, notably climate change, is problematic because the other global change drivers also degrade biodiversity and together threaten the stability of the biosphere. As the main academic journal addressing global change effects on living systems, GCB is well positioned to provide leadership in solving the global change challenge. If humanity cannot meet the challenge, then GCB is positioned to serve as a leading chronicle of the sixth mass extinction to occur on planet Earth. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A280%3ADC%252BB3MjivVWhtw%253D%253D&md5=31c8c541d464da89045f65d913952ad19Rillig, M. C.; Ryo, M.; Lehmann, A.; Aguilar-Trigueros, C. A.; Buchert, S.; Wulf, A.; Iwasaki, A.; Roy, J.; Yang, G. The Role of Multiple Global Change Factors in Driving Soil Functions and Microbial Biodiversity. Science 2019, 366 (6467), 886– 890, DOI: 10.1126/science.aay2832 Google Scholar9The role of multiple global change factors in driving soil functions and microbial biodiversityRillig, Matthias C.; Ryo, Masahiro; Lehmann, Anika; Aguilar-Trigueros, Carlos A.; Buchert, Sabine; Wulf, Anja; Iwasaki, Aiko; Roy, Julien; Yang, GaowenScience (Washington, DC, United States) (2019), 366 (6467), 886-890CODEN: SCIEAS; ISSN:1095-9203. (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Soils underpin terrestrial ecosystem functions, but they face numerous anthropogenic pressures. Despite their crucial ecol. role, we know little about how soils react to more than two environmental factors at a time. Here, we show exptl. that increasing the no. of simultaneous global change factors (up to 10) caused increasing directional changes in soil properties, soil processes, and microbial communities, though there was greater uncertainty in predicting the magnitude of change. Our study provides a blueprint for addressing multifactor change with an efficient, broadly applicable exptl. design for studying the impacts of global environmental change. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADC%252BC1MXitFOnu7rE&md5=9364b778bed1bdb9f52d4ace375ec48710Sigmund, G.; Ågerstrand, M.; Antonelli, A.; Backhaus, T.; Brodin, T.; Diamond, M. L.; Erdelen, W. R.; Evers, D. C.; Hofmann, T.; Hueffer, T.; Lai, A.; Torres, J. P. M.; Mueller, L.; Perrigo, A. L.; Rillig, M. C.; Schaeffer, A.; Scheringer, M.; Schirmer, K.; Tlili, A.; Soehl, A.; Triebskorn, R.; Vlahos, P.; vom Berg, C.; Wang, Z.; Groh, K. J. Addressing Chemical Pollution in Biodiversity Research. Global Change Biology 2023, 29 (12), 3240– 3255, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16689 Google Scholar10Addressing chemical pollution in biodiversity researchSigmund, Gabriel; Sgerstrand, Marlene; Antonelli, Alexandre; Backhaus, Thomas; Brodin, Tomas; Diamond, Miriam L.; Erdelen, Walter R.; Evers, David C.; Hofmann, Thilo; Hueffer, Thorsten; Lai, Adelene; Torres, Joao P. M.; Mueller, Leonie; Perrigo, Allison L.; Rillig, Matthias C.; Schaeffer, Andreas; Scheringer, Martin; Schirmer, Kristin; Tlili, Ahmed; Soehl, Anna; Triebskorn, Rita; Vlahos, Penny; vom Berg, Colette; Wang, Zhanyun; Groh, Ksenia J.Global Change Biology (2023), 29 (12), 3240-3255CODEN: GCBIFE; ISSN:1354-1013. (Wiley-Blackwell) Climate change, biodiversity loss, and chem. pollution are planetary-scale emergencies requiring urgent mitigation actions. As these "triple crises" are deeply interlinked, they need to be tackled in an integrative manner. However, while climate change and biodiversity are often studied together, chem. pollution as a global change factor contributing to worldwide biodiversity loss has received much less attention in biodiversity research so far. Here, we review evidence showing that the multifaceted effects of anthropogenic chems. in the environment are posing a growing threat to biodiversity and ecosystems. Therefore, failure to account for pollution effects may significantly undermine the success of biodiversity protection efforts. We argue that progress in understanding and counteracting the neg. impact of chem. pollution on biodiversity requires collective efforts of scientists from different disciplines, including but not limited to ecol., ecotoxicol., and environmental chem. Importantly, recent developments in these fields have now enabled comprehensive studies that could efficiently address the manifold interactions between chems. and ecosystems. Based on their experience with intricate studies of biodiversity, ecologists are well equipped to embrace the addnl. challenge of chem. complexity through interdisciplinary collaborations. This offers a unique opportunity to jointly advance a seminal frontier in pollution ecol. and facilitate the development of innovative solns. for environmental protection. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADC%252BB3sXns1GltLw%253D&md5=44e1dda30fccffccac07099280d6db0d11Rillig, M. C.; Kim, S. W.; Schäffer, A.; Sigmund, G.; Groh, K. J.; Wang, Z. About "Controls" in Pollution-Ecology Experiments in the Anthropocene. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022, 56 (17), 11928– 11930, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c05460 Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.Cited By Click to copy section linkSection link copied!This article has not yet been cited by other publications.Download PDFFiguresReferences Get e-AlertsGet e-AlertsEnvironmental Science & TechnologyCite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2025, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXXClick to copy citationCitation copied!https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c01101Published February 5, 2025 Publication History Received 22 January 2025Published online 5 February 2025© 2025 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under CC-BY 4.0 . License Summary*You are free to share (copy and redistribute) this article in any medium or format and to adapt (remix, transform, and build upon) the material for any purpose, even commercially within the parameters below:Creative Commons (CC): This is a Creative Commons license.Attribution (BY): Credit must be given to the creator.View full license*DisclaimerThis summary highlights only some of the key features and terms of the actual license. It is not a license and has no legal value. Carefully review the actual license before using these materials. Article Views-Altmetric-Citations-Learn about these metrics closeArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated.Recommended Articles FiguresReferencesAbstractHigh Resolution ImageDownload MS PowerPoint SlideFigure 1Figure 1. (A) Hormetic responses mean a response to a negative influence is positive at very low doses. (B) If widespread, such hermetic effects could lead to ecosystem process rates being affected, leading to an overestimation or underestimation of the effect of other factors of global change. (C) When environmental drivers are exceeding the hormetic threshold, the ecosystem state can undergo a transition from a stable state to an unstable state.High Resolution ImageDownload MS PowerPoint SlideMatthias C. RilligHigh Resolution ImageDownload MS PowerPoint SlideMatthias C. Rillig studied biology in Germany and Scotland and obtained a Ph.D. in California, USA. After nine years of being on the faculty of the University of Montana, he joined Freie Universität Berlin, where he is now a professor of ecology. He is director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research. Matthias won an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council, is a fellow of the Ecological Society of America, and is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, and Academia Europaea. His lab focuses on soil ecology, human-caused effects on soils and their biodiversity, and emerging environmental challenges.References This article references 11 other publications. 1Wang, Z.; Walker, G. W.; Muir, D. C. G.; Nagatani-Yoshida, K. Toward a Global Understanding of Chemical Pollution: A First Comprehensive Analysis of National and Regional Chemical Inventories. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2020, 54 (5), 2575– 2584, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b06379 1Toward a Global Understanding of Chemical Pollution: A First Comprehensive Analysis of National and Regional Chemical InventoriesWang, Zhanyun; Walker, Glen W.; Muir, Derek C. G.; Nagatani-Yoshida, KakukoEnvironmental Science & Technology (2020), 54 (5), 2575-2584CODEN: ESTHAG; ISSN:0013-936X. (American Chemical Society) Chems., while benefitting society, may be released during their life cycle and possibly harm humans and ecosystems. Chem. pollution is mentioned as a planetary boundaries within which humanity can safely operate, but is not comprehensively understood. This work analyzed 22 chem. inventories from 19 countries and regions to achieve a first comprehensive overview of chems. on the market as an essential first step toward a global understanding of chem. pollution. More than 350,000 chems. and chem. mixts. have been registered for prodn. and use, up to three times as many as previously estd. and with substantial differences across countries/regions. A noteworthy finding was that identities of many chems. remain publicly unknown because they are claimed as confidential (>50,000) or ambiguously described (up to 70,000). Coordinated efforts by all stake-holders including scientists from different disciplines are urgently needed; new areas of interest and opportunities are highlighted. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADC%252BB3cXhsFaitL0%253D&md5=5f731031fadaccfe5bd723138725c8a72Agathokleous, E.; Kitao, M.; Calabrese, E. J. Hormesis: Highly Generalizable and Beyond Laboratory. Trends in Plant Science 2020, 25 (11), 1076– 1086, DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2020.05.006 There is no corresponding record for this reference.3Stebbing, A. R. D. Hormesis ─ The Stimulation of Growth by Low Levels of Inhibitors. Science of The Total Environment 1982, 22 (3), 213– 234, DOI: 10.1016/0048-9697(82)90066-3 There is no corresponding record for this reference.4Erofeeva, E. A. Environmental Hormesis: From Cell to Ecosystem. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health 2022, 29, 100378, DOI: 10.1016/j.coesh.2022.100378 There is no corresponding record for this reference.5Bondy, S. C. The Hormesis Concept: Strengths and Shortcomings. Biomolecules 2023, 13 (10), 1512, DOI: 10.3390/biom13101512 There is no corresponding record for this reference.6Erofeeva, E. A. Interactions of Forest Carbon Sink and Climate Change in the Hormesis Paradigm. J. For. Res. 2024, 35 (1), 144, DOI: 10.1007/s11676-024-01795-7 There is no corresponding record for this reference.7Belz, R. G.; Cedergreen, N.; Sørensen, H. Hormesis in Mixtures ─ Can It Be Predicted?. Science of The Total Environment 2008, 404 (1), 77– 87, DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.06.008 There is no corresponding record for this reference.8Sage, R. F. Global Change Biology: A Primer. Global Change Biology 2020, 26 (1), 3– 30, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14893 8Global change biology: A primerSage Rowan FGlobal change biology (2020), 26 (1), 3-30 ISSN:. Because of human action, the Earth has entered an era where profound changes in the global environment are creating novel conditions that will be discernable far into the future. One consequence may be a large reduction of the Earth's biodiversity, potentially representing a sixth mass extinction. With effective stewardship, the global change drivers that threaten the Earth's biota could be alleviated, but this requires clear understanding of the drivers, their interactions, and how they impact ecological communities. This review identifies 10 anthropogenic global change drivers and discusses how six of the drivers (atmospheric CO2 enrichment, climate change, land transformation, species exploitation, exotic species invasions, eutrophication) impact Earth's biodiversity. Driver impacts on a particular species could be positive or negative. In either case, they initiate secondary responses that cascade along ecological lines of connection and in doing so magnify the initial impact. The unique nature of the threat to the Earth's biodiversity is not simply due to the magnitude of each driver, but due to the speed of change, the novelty of the drivers, and their interactions. Emphasizing one driver, notably climate change, is problematic because the other global change drivers also degrade biodiversity and together threaten the stability of the biosphere. As the main academic journal addressing global change effects on living systems, GCB is well positioned to provide leadership in solving the global change challenge. If humanity cannot meet the challenge, then GCB is positioned to serve as a leading chronicle of the sixth mass extinction to occur on planet Earth. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A280%3ADC%252BB3MjivVWhtw%253D%253D&md5=31c8c541d464da89045f65d913952ad19Rillig, M. C.; Ryo, M.; Lehmann, A.; Aguilar-Trigueros, C. A.; Buchert, S.; Wulf, A.; Iwasaki, A.; Roy, J.; Yang, G. The Role of Multiple Global Change Factors in Driving Soil Functions and Microbial Biodiversity. Science 2019, 366 (6467), 886– 890, DOI: 10.1126/science.aay2832 9The role of multiple global change factors in driving soil functions and microbial biodiversityRillig, Matthias C.; Ryo, Masahiro; Lehmann, Anika; Aguilar-Trigueros, Carlos A.; Buchert, Sabine; Wulf, Anja; Iwasaki, Aiko; Roy, Julien; Yang, GaowenScience (Washington, DC, United States) (2019), 366 (6467), 886-890CODEN: SCIEAS; ISSN:1095-9203. (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Soils underpin terrestrial ecosystem functions, but they face numerous anthropogenic pressures. Despite their crucial ecol. role, we know little about how soils react to more than two environmental factors at a time. Here, we show exptl. that increasing the no. of simultaneous global change factors (up to 10) caused increasing directional changes in soil properties, soil processes, and microbial communities, though there was greater uncertainty in predicting the magnitude of change. Our study provides a blueprint for addressing multifactor change with an efficient, broadly applicable exptl. design for studying the impacts of global environmental change. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADC%252BC1MXitFOnu7rE&md5=9364b778bed1bdb9f52d4ace375ec48710Sigmund, G.; Ågerstrand, M.; Antonelli, A.; Backhaus, T.; Brodin, T.; Diamond, M. L.; Erdelen, W. R.; Evers, D. C.; Hofmann, T.; Hueffer, T.; Lai, A.; Torres, J. P. M.; Mueller, L.; Perrigo, A. L.; Rillig, M. C.; Schaeffer, A.; Scheringer, M.; Schirmer, K.; Tlili, A.; Soehl, A.; Triebskorn, R.; Vlahos, P.; vom Berg, C.; Wang, Z.; Groh, K. J. Addressing Chemical Pollution in Biodiversity Research. Global Change Biology 2023, 29 (12), 3240– 3255, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16689 10Addressing chemical pollution in biodiversity researchSigmund, Gabriel; Sgerstrand, Marlene; Antonelli, Alexandre; Backhaus, Thomas; Brodin, Tomas; Diamond, Miriam L.; Erdelen, Walter R.; Evers, David C.; Hofmann, Thilo; Hueffer, Thorsten; Lai, Adelene; Torres, Joao P. M.; Mueller, Leonie; Perrigo, Allison L.; Rillig, Matthias C.; Schaeffer, Andreas; Scheringer, Martin; Schirmer, Kristin; Tlili, Ahmed; Soehl, Anna; Triebskorn, Rita; Vlahos, Penny; vom Berg, Colette; Wang, Zhanyun; Groh, Ksenia J.Global Change Biology (2023), 29 (12), 3240-3255CODEN: GCBIFE; ISSN:1354-1013. (Wiley-Blackwell) Climate change, biodiversity loss, and chem. pollution are planetary-scale emergencies requiring urgent mitigation actions. As these "triple crises" are deeply interlinked, they need to be tackled in an integrative manner. However, while climate change and biodiversity are often studied together, chem. pollution as a global change factor contributing to worldwide biodiversity loss has received much less attention in biodiversity research so far. Here, we review evidence showing that the multifaceted effects of anthropogenic chems. in the environment are posing a growing threat to biodiversity and ecosystems. Therefore, failure to account for pollution effects may significantly undermine the success of biodiversity protection efforts. We argue that progress in understanding and counteracting the neg. impact of chem. pollution on biodiversity requires collective efforts of scientists from different disciplines, including but not limited to ecol., ecotoxicol., and environmental chem. Importantly, recent developments in these fields have now enabled comprehensive studies that could efficiently address the manifold interactions between chems. and ecosystems. Based on their experience with intricate studies of biodiversity, ecologists are well equipped to embrace the addnl. challenge of chem. complexity through interdisciplinary collaborations. This offers a unique opportunity to jointly advance a seminal frontier in pollution ecol. and facilitate the development of innovative solns. for environmental protection. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADC%252BB3sXns1GltLw%253D&md5=44e1dda30fccffccac07099280d6db0d11Rillig, M. C.; Kim, S. W.; Schäffer, A.; Sigmund, G.; Groh, K. J.; Wang, Z. About "Controls" in Pollution-Ecology Experiments in the Anthropocene. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022, 56 (17), 11928– 11930, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c05460 There is no corresponding record for this reference.