Dirty workers: What do we know about the ecotoxicological studies in polychaetes?

We identified publication trends and methodological changes in polychaete ecotoxicological studies since the review carried out by Reish and Gerlinger (Bull Mar Sci 60:584–607, 1997) using a classic review approach. We also carried out a meta-analysis to identify the overall effect of the type of pollutants (e.g., hydrocarbons, metals, pesticides) and to test the consistency of their effect at different levels of analysis (e.g., biochemical, physiological, behavioral) using 14 different biological responses (e.g., bioaccumulation, tolerance, enzymatic activity). A total of 136 articles met the selection criteria and were analyzed for the classic review. Main findings include: (1) studies focused on the effects of metals (48%), hydrocarbons (32%), and pesticides (20%); (2) sublethal effects were more frequent; and (3) the nereidid species Hediste diversicolor was the most studied species. For the meta-analysis, 27 articles met the selection criteria and a total of 168 effect sizes were calculated. The results from the generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) indicated that the hydrocarbons have the strongest effect in polychaetes, while the most sensitive metric is behavior. Enzymatic activity and mortality represented the most sensitive biological responses to estimating the magnitude and direction of the effect. Finally, the tendencies observed in the classic review did not represent the strongest effects in the GLMMs.