30 anos de ECOTOX: Análise da evolução da pesquisa em ecotoxicologia nas regiões norte e nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

In 2021, the Brazilian Congress of Ecotoxicology (ECOTOX) completed 30 years of existence, with 16 editions held in several cities in the Northeast, Southeast and South regions of Brazil. Thus, this work aims to analyze the evolution of research in Ecotoxicology in the North and Northeast regions, based on the evaluation of abstracts sent to ECOTOX over the last 30 years. The data were collected through the analysis of the abstracts of the events from 1998 to 2018. The North region presented a total of 213 abstracts and the state that most stood out in terms of number of abstracts is Para and, at the same time, the Instituto Evandro Chagas is largest publishing institution with 46 works. “Bioavailability, bioaccumulation and biomaginification” was the most discussed topic, 96% of the works were done in the laboratory and 156 abstracts were done in aquatic compartments, mainly in freshwater environments. For the Northeast region, a total of 503 abstracts were analyzed and the state of Pernambuco leads the analysis, presenting the largest number of publications over the years, concomitantly with the Federal University of Pernambuco, which has the largest number of abstracts submitted. The most discussed topic over the years was “New methodologies and approaches in Ecotoxicological assays”. The most studied species were fish, and heavy metals were the substances that appeared the most. The most studied environment was the marine, also taking into account the estuarine environments. Approximately 50% of the works in the North and Northeast regions were financed by public or private bodies and, based on these data, there is a need for greater investments for the evolution and development of research in these regions.