The extensive use of anthropogenic nanomaterials in large consumption products means that their transport, use and discharge is a potential new source of pollution in the environment and potentially be a significant source of jeopardy top human and environmental health (Sellers 2009). Although the research into nanotechnology Environmental health and Safety issues has been growing for almost a decade, today there are still many uncertainties concerning the environmental fate and toxicity of ENPs in aquatic environments due to that the analytic tools are not yet standardized. In 2009, the EMERGNANO review made a unique attempt to identify and assess worldwide progress in relation to nanotechnology risk issues (Aitken et al., 2009). The ENP’s environmental fate is extremely complex and the process regulating their distribution are still not exhaustively investigated. There physico-chemical process that can affect their potential environmental toxicity (solubility, aggregation, absorption, interaction with other toxic substances etc).
Species tests are frequently used tools in risk assessment because they are fast and easy to use, economical and have a high repeatability. They can be standardized, they allow for effect comparison between different pollutants and the interpretation of data is straightforward. However, the value of a test is no better than the choice of test organism and endpoint as discussed by Cairns (1986). The intrinsic uncertainties in extrapolating effects from limited studies to ecosystems in this way have been under scrutiny (Chapman et al., 1998; Forbes et al., 2001; Selck et al., 2002). Extrapolating data from single species tests to community level effects introduces much uncertainty (Preston 2002). The response of an individual organism to stress from pollutants may be very different in its natural surroundings compared to in standardised laboratory conditions such as those used in single species tests. No competition for space and/or resources within or among populations and between species is present in single species tests. Furthermore, changes in the abiotic environment or succession of community structure due to toxicant exposure are factors that can impact the state of the community both positively and negatively and such factors are greatly reduced, or not present under controlled laboratory conditions (Brock et al., 2004).
A natural way of integrating marine ecology into ecotoxicology is to use mesocm designs in the experimental work (Caquet et al., 2000). In a mesocosm experiment it is feasible to estimate effects on parts of the community, and broadening the perspective and assessing the effects on the entire ecosystem simultaneously. As such, mesocosms have been used for many years both in ecological and ecotoxicological studies (Sebastian et al., 2012, Galbet et al. 2012). In this project will focus on the effects of ENPs on pelagic marine ecosystem. Previously, it has been reported that major fraction of organic pollutants entered in marine ecosystem of eastern Mediterranean remains in the ephotic zone (Tsapakis et al., 2006).