How toxicity drives evolution: past, present and future

The evolutionary context of environmental toxicology and chemistry in the Anthropocene is expanded towards a global perspective through three complementary approaches: (i) environmental toxicity as a mechanism to explain selectivity in mass extinctions with the K-Pg event as a case study; (ii) evidence that certain features of embryonic development could be considered biomarkers of adaptation to specific environmental agents of the evolutionary process, e.g. the transition from the anaerobic to the aerobic metabolism in early embryonic stages versus from the anoxic toward the oxic Earth, and (iii) the capacity to build favorable conditions for life by the collaboration of a population of free-living embryos reducing environmental toxicity and its evolutionary implications from an onto-phylogenetic perspective. Focusing on the future, the article highlights the relevance of environmental toxicology and chemistry for sustainability, to understand the characteristics of eventual extraterrestrial life better, and for space colonization initiatives. The acronym EVOTOX is proposed for environmental toxicology and chemistry studies focusing on evolution, past, present, and future.