DENTIFICATION AND PREVENTION OF THE CHEMICAL RISK IN IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE. HOLISTIC IMPACT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ON THE UPTAKE OF CONTAMINANTS AT FULLSCALE CROPS (RACE)
The agrifood production in peri-urban areas, known as proximity agriculture, has been acknowledged to be more environmentally friendly since it minimizes the carbon dioxide footprint in terms of food transport, offers the possibility of water reclamation from urban wastewaters and its reuse as well as the possibility to obtain easier fresh food products in large cities. However, the large infrastructure (e.g. solid waste incineration, airports, highways, harbors) surrounding the large cities exerts an environmental pressure that can become sources of pollution into the peri-urban agriculture. This project aims to assess as an integrated approach, the impact of the atmospheric pollution, rainfall, soil and irrigation water on selected crops (e.g. lettuce, artichoke, cabbage, tomato, egg-plant and zucchini) on the crop yield and its chemical contamination load. In this respect, a case study in the Llobregat delta (Barcelona, Spain) will be performed where a pollution gradient and different physicalchemical quality of irrigation water is expected. Accordingly, priority organic contaminants (e.g. PAHs, PCBs, DDTs, PFOS, PBDEs, triazinic and phenoxy acid herbicides, pyrethroids), emerging persistent (carbamazepine, BPA, PFCA, antibiotics), heavy metals (Cu, Ba, Zn, Pb, Hg, Cd) and metalloids (As) will be determined in the above mentioned environmental compartments. In food products, the eatable part of the plant will be analysed and the metabolomic approach will be used to assess the enzymatic response to the pollution gradient. The database generated in the project will be evaluated by statistical methods to assess the relative contribution of the different pollution sources in the crops. Finally, the risk associated to food consumption according with a standard diet will be evaluated according to the European Food Safety Agency’s methodology and strategies to minimize the uptake of contaminants by crops will be developed. Project results will be disseminate to the agrifood sector, administration, and scientific community at national and international level.
http://racemineco.weebly.com/
The agrifood production in peri-urban areas, known as proximity agriculture, has been acknowledged to be more environmentally friendly since it minimizes the carbon dioxide footprint in terms of food transport, offers the possibility of water reclamation from urban wastewaters and its reuse as well as the possibility to obtain easier fresh food products in large cities. However, the large infrastructure (e.g. solid waste incineration, airports, highways, harbors) surrounding the large cities exerts an environmental pressure that can become sources of pollution into the peri-urban agriculture. This project aims to assess as an integrated approach, the impact of the atmospheric pollution, rainfall, soil and irrigation water on selected crops (e.g. lettuce, artichoke, cabbage, tomato, egg-plant and zucchini) on the crop yield and its chemical contamination load. In this respect, a case study in the Llobregat delta (Barcelona, Spain) will be performed where a pollution gradient and different physicalchemical quality of irrigation water is expected. Accordingly, priority organic contaminants (e.g. PAHs, PCBs, DDTs, PFOS, PBDEs, triazinic and phenoxy acid herbicides, pyrethroids), emerging persistent (carbamazepine, BPA, PFCA, antibiotics), heavy metals (Cu, Ba, Zn, Pb, Hg, Cd) and metalloids (As) will be determined in the above mentioned environmental compartments. In food products, the eatable part of the plant will be analysed and the metabolomic approach will be used to assess the enzymatic response to the pollution gradient. The database generated in the project will be evaluated by statistical methods to assess the relative contribution of the different pollution sources in the crops. Finally, the risk associated to food consumption according with a standard diet will be evaluated according to the European Food Safety Agency’s methodology and strategies to minimize the uptake of contaminants by crops will be developed. Project results will be disseminate to the agrifood sector, administration, and scientific community at national and international level.
http://racemineco.weebly.com/
Development
and implementation of New Passive Samplers for the Assessment of the
Environmental Impact of Bioavailable Mercury (PASIMER)
In the environment, bioaccumulation and toxicity of elements are not related to total or dissolved concentrations, but rather to the concentration of specific chemical species. The Diffusive Gradients in Thin films (DGT)
technique is an operationally defined method to determine the dissolved
fraction of trace elements in water.
The principle of the DGT technique is based on the
diffusion of the dissolved species through a membrane-diffusive layer and their
accumulation in an ion-exchange resin. A hydrogel and a membrane filter (to
protect the gel) are commonly used as the diffusive layer. The resin, which
serves as a binding agent, is incorporated into a polyacrylamide gel.
The main objective of this project is to develop new DGT devices, particularly with new binding phases, useful for Hg species traces, on-field determination and speciation. Research will focus in two main lines:
1) development of low-cost and friendly-useful DGT devices, and 2) evaluation of its efficiency in a highly mercury-contaminated aquatic ecosystem. PhD. student Cristal Fernández is carrying out this study.
Collaborators/Funding: Dr. Holger Hintelmann, Trent University/Spanish Ministry of Science & Innovation (MCInn)
http://pasimer.weebly.com/index.html
The main objective of this project is to develop new DGT devices, particularly with new binding phases, useful for Hg species traces, on-field determination and speciation. Research will focus in two main lines:
1) development of low-cost and friendly-useful DGT devices, and 2) evaluation of its efficiency in a highly mercury-contaminated aquatic ecosystem. PhD. student Cristal Fernández is carrying out this study.
Collaborators/Funding: Dr. Holger Hintelmann, Trent University/Spanish Ministry of Science & Innovation (MCInn)
http://pasimer.weebly.com/index.html
Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Mercury in Ecosystems of high Ecological value (EMECO)
Concern is growing about the environmental problems caused by mercury,
in view of its high persistence, its extreme mobility and its entry to
the food chain in the highly toxic form of methylmercury, representing a
global threat to health and the environment.
This project will measure the levels of mercury and methylmercury
pollution and biomagnification in ecosystems of major ecological
interest such as the Ebro Delta and Gállego and Cinca rivers in Spain, and
the Pantanal of Mato Grosso in Brazil, by means of food chain sampling.
It will also
look into the complex biogeochemical processes governing their
bioavailability in the aquatic systems. PhD. students Cristal Fernández, Luis Carrasco and Wilkinson Lopes are carrying out this study.
Collaborators/Funding: Drs. Olaf Malm & Jean RD Guimaraes: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ);
Drs. Carolina da Silva, Aurea Ignácio: Universidade Estado Mato Grosso (UNEMAT) / Fundación BBVA
Collaborators/Funding: Drs. Olaf Malm & Jean RD Guimaraes: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ);
Drs. Carolina da Silva, Aurea Ignácio: Universidade Estado Mato Grosso (UNEMAT) / Fundación BBVA
Periphyton communities as responsible of Methylmercury production in floodplain lakes
The toxic potential of Hg in aquatic systems is due to
the presence and production of MeHg. Recent studies on MeHg
production in tropical floodplain environments show that the roots zone of
floating macrophytes are able to produce more MeHg than the water column and
sediments of the open water zone of lakes and rivers. Indeed,
the greater capacity for synthesis of MeHg by the roots of aquatic macrophytes
is attributed to the periphyton associated with them. So, periphyton communities
are the first link of the food chain and one of the main MeHg sources in
aquatic environments. Based on this, we hypothesized that the structure of algae
communities may explain the methylation potentials, given that ecologically
distinct communities have different bacterial densities and diversity, which
directly affects the formation of MeHg in the macrophytes roots. This
study proposes to investigate the relationship between the periphytic algal
community structure in the macrophyte roots, and potential methylation rates of
those communities in water bodies of a rather pristine floodplain of high
ecological interest. PhD. student Wilkinson Lopes is carrying out this study.
Collaborators/Funding: Dr. Jean RD Guimaraes Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ);
Collaborators/Funding: Dr. Jean RD Guimaraes Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ);
Development of methods for speciation of Hg and Studies of trophic transfer and toxicity in aquatic foodwebs
Methylmercury has attracted special attention, both because it is the most toxic alkylmercury species and because it is highly bioaccumulable and biomagnificable throughout the aquatic food chain. As a result, higher trophic level organisms tend to have larger levels of MeHg, which may adversely affect wildlife and human beings. Our findings have been demonstrated that Hg speciation becomes of paramount importance in order to understand trophic mercury dynamics. One of our main objectives is to develop analytical methodologies to quantify both total Hg and MeHg concentrations in sediments, water, phytoplancton, zooplancton and fish species. Unlike fish, which have greater mobility, crayfish or molluscs have been also used as sentinel organisms of pollution for assessing Hg relocation from point sources. We also conduct analysis in waterfowl (eggs and feathers), turtles
(blood and claws) and caimans (claws and dermal plates)
(in Brazil) to quantify the impact of Hg at higher levels of aquatic biota. With our chemical analysis and in
combination with quantitative analyses of mRNA and biochemical biomarkers (in colaboration with other research groups) we are able to establish the ecological and biological effects of chronic mercury exposure in biota.
Collaborators/Funding: Drs. B. Piña and C. Barata (IDAEA-CSIC); Dr. E. Garcia-Berthou (UdG).
Collaborators/Funding: Drs. B. Piña and C. Barata (IDAEA-CSIC); Dr. E. Garcia-Berthou (UdG).
Human exposure to Mercury
Mercury is a potent toxic element that can cause severe neurological damage to humans. It is well known that most human exposure to MeHg is through consumption of fish and shellfish. MeHg distributes all over body tissues and is accumulated into scalp hair. The convenience of sampling and storing scalp hair is advantageous for monitoring and field studies and it has been extensively demonstrated that the THg concentration in hair reflects the average MeHg concentrations circulating in blood. Our research team are developing several studies to assess mercury exposure through mercury speciation in the hair of different populations (e.g. Spain, Italy or Brazil). This research has the potential to improve our understanding of the risk assessment in both the general population and in risk groups, such as populations with high fish consumption.
Collaborators/Funding: Dr. Olaf Malm (UFRJ); Dr. P. Montuori (University of Naples “Federico II”)
Collaborators/Funding: Dr. Olaf Malm (UFRJ); Dr. P. Montuori (University of Naples “Federico II”)
Oil Spills in the Marine Environment
Oil spills in the marine
environment are an issue of growing concern. In addition to occasional large,
high profile incidents (e.g. Prestige), operational oil spills are occurring on
daily basis, especially along coasts in areas of intense maritime transport. Once in the marine environment, spilt oil will be subject to
transformation as a result of physical, chemical, and biological processes
(weathering), including evaporation, dissolution, emulsification, microbial degradation,
photo-oxidation, adsorption to suspended matter, and deposition on the sea
floor. In this work, a three-tiered approach consisting of fractionation, chemical characterization and bioassays is performed on the samples of oils that are frequently transported in Europe (e.g., Ekofisk, Angolan, Heavy fuel oil-HFO). PhD. student Jagos Radovic is carrying out this study.
Collaborators/Funding: Kevin V. Thomas (NIVA). RAMOCS-ERANET AMPERA (6th FP6 EU)
Collaborators/Funding: Kevin V. Thomas (NIVA). RAMOCS-ERANET AMPERA (6th FP6 EU)
