Pharmaceutical pollution is a major and growing environmental concern. Pharmaceuticals enter the environment primarily as a result of insufficient removal during wastewater treatment processes, as well as via discharge from manufacturing and disposal of unused medications. Worryingly, aquatic environments can act as a sink for these contaminants, with freshwater species therefore being particularly vulnerable. New research, led by PhD candidate Michael Bertram, has revealed for the first time that exposure to the widespread pharmaceutical pollutant fluoxetine—at levels that have been detected in freshwater systems worldwide—alters male reproductive behaviour, sperm count and body condition in a freshwater fish. Consequently, this research highlights the need for further investigation of the potential sub-lethal impacts of pharmaceutical pollution on ecological and evolutionary processes in exposed wildlife. This study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Development and Stem Cells Program of Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University, and the Department of Environmental and Marine Biology at Åbo Akademi University in Finland.
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