Marine sediment toxicity: A focus on micro- and mesocosms towards remediation

Micro- and/or mesocosms are experimental tools bringing ecologically relevant components of the natural environment under controlled conditions closest to the real world, without losing the advantage of reliable reference conditions and replications, providing a link between laboratory studies and filed studies in natural environments. Here, for the first time, a formal comparison of different types of mesocosm applied to the study of marine contaminants is offered, considering that pollution of coastal areas represented a major concern in the last decades because of the abundance of discharged toxic substances. In particular, the structural characteristics of micro- and mesocosms (m-cosms) used to study marine contaminated sediments were reviewed, focusing on their advantages/disadvantages. Their potentiality to investigate sediment remediation have been discussed, offering new perspective on how the use of m-cosms can be useful for the development of practical application in the development of solutions for contaminated sediment management in the contaminated marine environment.