ABSTRACT
Ecotoxicological processes, indeed, are characterized by their hypercomplexity, due to a combination of three groups of factors: physicochemical factors, related to the biotopes; biotic factors. Methodologies developed in ecotoxicology do, however, present some particularities and specific features, mainly linked with the importance accorded each type of factor. Laboratory studies, on the other hand, are based on a wish to simplify structures leading in particular to a limitation of the number of ecotoxicological factors considered, and to a space-time reduction which is often quite marked. In ecotoxicology, as in all other sciences, although perhaps here with an added dimension because of the breadth of the investigation field, a global and exhaustive analysis of all the processes can only be a utopia. Ecotoxicology is a young science, and the current appraisal of its activities does reveal some hesitations related to the directions of research and the methodologies developed.
