Rare earth elements (REE) are recognized as emerging pollutants due to their widespread use in modern society (e.g., in the production of electronics, renewable energy technologies, and advanced medical devices) which leads to anthropogenically elevated concentrations in the environment with potential consequences for ecosystem health. This article critically reviews the current scientific knowledge on aquatic bioavailability and toxicity of REE and focuses on pitfalls that could influence the outcome of ecotoxicity tests. After passing our quality criteria, we reviewed 38 papers on the ecotoxicity of REE in depth. Most studies focused on freshwater environments, indicating a need for more research on marine ecosystems, particularly on marine vertebrates. The results showed that heavy REE tend to be more toxic than light REE to aquatic organisms. Critical aspects for biotesting REE include complexation with ions such as phosphates (nutrient in algae tests) and carbonates. Carbonate complexation decreases potentially bioavailable aqueous REE species and may lower toxicity at increasing water hardness, although this may also be caused by competition of REE³⁺ and Ca²⁺ for the same binding sites in organisms. REE have a high tendency to adsorb to glass and it is recommended to use vessels made of polyethylene terephthalate or polycarbonate instead. More research is needed on chemical speciation and the interaction of REE with various organisms, also in multi-species mesocosm studies. A robust aquatic risk assessment on REE requires information on nominal and measured concentrations in both acute and chronic ecotoxicological bioassays as well as a thorough characterization of exposure.

中文翻译：

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稀土元素对水生环境的影响：对生态毒理学测试的影响


稀土元素 （REE） 被认为是新兴污染物，因为它们在现代社会中被广泛使用（例如，用于电子产品、可再生能源技术和先进医疗设备的生产），这导致环境中的人为浓度升高，对生态系统健康产生潜在后果。本文批判性地回顾了当前关于 REE 水生生物利用度和毒性的科学知识，并重点关注可能影响生态毒性测试结果的陷阱。通过我们的质量标准后，我们深入审查了 38 篇关于 REE 生态毒性的论文。大多数研究都集中在淡水环境上，这表明需要对海洋生态系统，特别是海洋脊椎动物进行更多研究。结果表明，重 REE 对水生生物的毒性往往比轻 REE 更大。生物检测 REE 的关键方面包括与磷酸盐（藻类测试中的营养物质）和碳酸盐等离子的络合。碳酸盐络合会降低潜在的生物可利用度的 REE 水性物质，并可能在增加水硬度时降低毒性，尽管这也可能是由 REE³⁺ 和 Ca²⁺ 对生物体中相同结合位点的竞争引起的。稀土元素极易吸附在玻璃上，建议使用聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯或聚碳酸酯制成的容器。需要对化学形态形成和 REE 与各种生物体的相互作用进行更多研究，还需要在多物种中宇宙研究中进行研究。对 REE 进行强大的水生风险评估需要有关急性和慢性生态毒理学生物测定中的标称浓度和测量浓度的信息，以及对暴露的全面表征。