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MODELKEY - How to assess the impact of
key pollutants in aquatic ecosystems
30 November – 2 December 2009
Leipzig, Germany
Contents
Contents .......................................................................................................................... 1
Scientific Committee ...................................................................................................... 2
Conference Programme .................................................................................................. 3
Abstracts Speakers .......................................................................................................... 8
List of Posters ............................................................................................................... 50
Poster Abstracts ............................................................................................................ 61
List of Participants ...................................................................................................... 100
General Information.................................................................................................... 105
Conference Venue............................................................................................................. 106
Conference Dinner ............................................................................................................ 107
Access to W-LAN at Leipziger KUBUS .......................................................................... 108
MODELKEY- How to assess the impact of key pollutants in aquatic ecosystems
30 Nov - 2 Dec 2009
Dear participants,
Welcome to our conference “MODELKEY - How to assess the impact of key pollutants in
aquatic ecosystems”, which is the final conference of the Integrated Project MODELKEY
(511237 GOCE, www.modelkey.org). MODELKEY scientists and outstanding invited
experts will provide their view on the highlights of five years of research for linking adverse
effects on biological quality elements to environmental pollution in a multiply stressed
environment. Novel approaches for the identification and assessment of causes for insufficient
ecological status integrating investigative monitoring with modelling and decision support
will be presented. New evidence of toxic stress affecting ecological quality together with
suggestions for responsible key pollutants will be provided. At specific case studies it will be
shown how the establishment of conclusive exposure-effect chains helps to identify key
pressures as a first step towards a risk-based river basin management. Large scale exposure
and effect modelling in the frame of a user-friendly decision support system help to prioritise
local and regional issues on a basin scale to support next generation river basin management
plans.
The conference will present latest findings of MODELKEY on an integrated level as well as
individual results in the following sessions:
- risk assessment and decision making on a basin scale
- toxic stress on biological quality elements
- key pollutants causing toxic stress
- bioavailability and bioaccumulation
- site assessment
- multiple stress in aquatic ecosystems
- suggestions for surveillance and investigative monitoring
We very much hope that you will have a stimulating and rewarding meeting with many
comprehensive discussions and wish you a pleasant stay in the beautiful city of Leipzig.
Werner Brack and Michaela Hein
on behalf of the Scientific Committee
1
MODELKEY- How to assess the impact of key pollutants in aquatic ecosystems
Scientific Committee
Werner Brack, UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
Eric de Deckere, UA, Antwerp, Belgium
Dick de Zwart, RIVM, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Edwin Foekema, IMARES, Den Helder, The Netherlands
Helena Guasch, UdG, Girona, Spain
Michaela Hein, UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
Pavel Jurajda, IVB, Brno, Czech Republic
Sovan Lek, CNRS, Toulouse, France
Pim Leonards, VUA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Antonio Marcomini, CVR, Venice, Italy
Isabel Muñoz, UdB, Barcelona, Spain
Sergi Sabater, UdG, Girona, Spain
Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen, UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
Helmut Segner, UB, Bern, Switzerland
Elena Semenzin, CVR, Venice, Italy
Kevin Thomas, NIVA, Oslo, Norway
Jos van Gils, DELFT, Delft, The Netherlands
Bert van Hattum, VUA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Sander van Vliet, MinVenW, Lelystad, The Netherlands
Peter von der Ohe, UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
2
30 Nov - 2 Dec 2009
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Conference Programme
A DSS corner to test the final prototype of the MODELKEY
Decision Support System will be available throughout the conference
Monday, 30 November 2009
from 11:00
Registration
page
Introduction
13:00
Welcome
Werner Brack, UFZ, Germany & Javier Peinado, European
Commission, Belgium
13:30
The role of science in international chemicals management
Kees van Leeuwen, TNO, The Netherlands
9
Risk assessment and decision making on a basin scale
(chairs: Jos van Gils & Elena Semenzin)
14:00
Towards a holistic approach in river basin management
Bob Harris, University of Sheffield, UK
10
14:30
New integrated tools for risk assessment and decision making
on a basin scale
Jos van Gils, DELTARES, The Netherlands & Elena Semenzin,
Muriel Gevrey, Peter C. von der Ohe
11
15:00
BREAK
15:30
Assessment of biological responses under multiple-stress
condition in the Scheldt basin (Belgium) using advanced
modelling methods
Muriel Gevrey, CNRS, France & Lise Comte, Dick de Zwart, Eric
de Deckere, Sovan Lek
13
15:50
A MCDA-based procedure to prioritize hot spots at basin scale
Stefania Gottardo, Consorzio Venezia Ricerche, Italy & Laura
Onofri, Paulo A.L.D. Nunes, Elena Semenzin, Alex Zabeo, Jonathan
Rizzi, Andrea Critto, Silvio Giove, Dick de Zwart, Antonio
Marcomini
14
3
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Toxic stress on biological quality elements
(chairs: Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen & Isabel Muñoz)
16:10
Evidence and diagnosis of toxic stress towards aquatic
organisms
Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen, UFZ, Germany & Claude Belpaire,
Werner Brack, Eric de Deckere, Isabel Muñoz, Claus Orendt,
Stefanie Rotter, Claudia Schmitt, Peter von der Ohe, Sergi Sabater,
Helmut Segner, Georg Wolfram
15
16:40
From the lab to the field - Confirming effects of contaminated 17
sediments on Potamopyrgus antipodarum in the laboratory with
in situ cage experiments in the field
Claudia Schmitt, University of Antwerp, Belgium & Georg Streck,
Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen, Urte Lübcke-von Varel, Werner Brack,
Eric de Deckere
17:00
Multiple approach to study the impacts of priority and
emergent substances on river communities
Isabel Muñoz, University of Barcelona, Spain & Damià Barceló,
Rikke Brix, Antoni Ginebreda, Helena Guasch, Maria J. Lopez de
Alda, Julio López-Doval, Marta Ricart, Anna Romaní, Sergi
Sabater
from 17:20
POSTER SOCIAL
18
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Toxic stress on biological quality elements (continued)
Page
9:00
Ecology in ecotoxicology: Species interactions, subsidies and
services
Lorraine Maltby, University of Sheffield, UK
19
9:30
Effects of triclosan on important ecosystem functions of aquatic
microbial biofilms such as the biostabilisation of sediments
Sabine U. Gerbersdorf, University of Stuttgart & Helen Lubarsky,
Mahmoud Bataineh, Cédric Hubas, Francesco Ricciardi, Mechthild
Schmitt-Jansen, Werner Manz
20
Key pollutants causing toxic stress
(chairs: Werner Brack & Kevin Thomas)
9:50
Priority Substances and Chemical Monitoring Activity in the 21
context of the Water Framework Directive
Mario Carere, National Institute of Health, Italy & Madalina David
4
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
10:20
Key pollutants causing toxic stress
Werner Brack, UFZ, Germany & Jan Balaam, Nicole Bandow,
Damià Barceló, Rikke Brix, Edwin Foekema, Marja Lamoree, Pim
Leonards, Urte Lübcke-von Varel, Miroslav Machala, Isabel
Muñoz, Claudia Schmitt, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen, Peter von der
Ohe, Kevin Thomas, Jana Weiss, Dick de Zwart
22
10:50
BREAK
11:20
Suggestions for new priority substances based on results from
monitoring studies in Catalonia (NE Spain)
Rikke Brix, CSIC; Spain & Marianne Köck Schulmeyer, Marinella
Farré, Isabel Muñoz, Maria J. Lopez de Alda , Antoni Ginebreda,
Damià Barceló
24
11:40
Identification and effect assessment of an emerging compound
(triclosan) in testsystems of different biological complexity
Stephanie Franz, UFZ, Germany & Sebastian Höss, Nicole
Bandow, Georg Streck, Werner Brack, Rolf Altenburger, Mechthild
Schmitt-Jansen
26
12:00
Identification of key toxicants in a river sediment sample using
complementary methodologies: GC-MS and LTQ-Orbitrap
Jana Weiss, JRC, Italy & Pim Leonards, Eszter Simon, Gerard
Stroomberg, Ronald de Boer, Marja Lamoree
27
12:20
QSAR models to support the prioritization of emerging
substances
Peter C. von der Ohe, UFZ, Germany & Werner Brack, Gerrit
Schüürmann
28
12:40
LUNCH BREAK
Bioavailability and bioaccumulation
(chairs: Bert van Hattum & Pim Leonards)
13:40
Bioavailability and bioaccumulation as crucial factors linking
contamination and ecological status
Bert van Hattum, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands &
Pim Leonards, Jussi Kukkonen, Arto Sormunen, Anita Tuikka,
Sander van Vliet, Joop Bakker, Foppe Smedes, Paul van Noort,
Georg Streck, Werner Brack, Nicole Bandow, Anton Kocan, Miren
Lopez de Alda, Rikke Brix, Isabel Muñoz, Eric de Deckere, Chris
van Liefferinge, Vicky Leloup, Pavel Jurajda, Zdenek Adamek,
Mirek Machala, Jos van Gils, Yenory Morales, Dick de Zwart
29
14:10
Evaluation of bioavailability of chemicals in sediments - Let the
organisms tell us the story
Jussi Kukkonen, University of Joensuu, Finland
31
14:30
Consideration of bioavailability in the Effect Directed Analysis
of sediments
Nicole Bandow, University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany & Rolf
Altenburger, Katrin Schwab, Georg Streck, Werner Brack
32
5
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Site assessment
(chairs: Sander van Vliet & Edwin Foekema)
14:50
Assessing (eco)toxicological risk and impact in differing and
changing environments, with special focus on sediments
Tinka Murk, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
33
15:20
Weight-of-Evidence approach for ecological status classification
and evaluation at site-specific scale
Elena Semenzin, Consorzio Venezia Ricerche, Italy & Stefania
Gottardo, Andrea Critto, Alex Zabeo, Silvio Giove, Dick de Zwart,
Antonio Marcomini
34
15:50
BREAK
16:20
A tiered approach to assess impact by chemicals on ecological
status
Edwin M. Foekema, IMARES, The Netherlands & L.A. van Vliet
et al.
16:50
37
In vitro toxicity of aromatic compounds identified in river
sediments from the Czech Elbe basin hot-spot regions
Miroslav Machala, Veterinary Research Institute, Czech Republic
& Miroslav Ciganek, Jiri Neca, Katerina Pencikova, Lenka Vykopalova, Sona Marvanova, Lenka Trilecova, Pavlina Simeckova,
Pavel Krcmar, Jan Topinka, Anton Kocan, Georg Streck, Werner
Brack, Jan Vondracek
17:10
How “omic” data can assist in monitoring and risk assessment
of chemicals and particles in the aquatic environment
Kevin Chipman, University of Birmingham, UK
38
17:40
Linking metabolic changes to phenotypic observations to assess
responses of algae after exposure to key toxicants
Frédéric Sans-Piché, UFZ, Germany & Christina Klünder, Janet
Riedl, Ivonne Löffler, Rolf Altenburger, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen
39
19:00
GUIDED TOUR THROUGH ZOO AQUARIUM
from 20:00
CONFERENCE DINNER AT KIWARA LODGE, ZOO LEIPZIG
36
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Multiple stress in aquatic ecosystems
(chairs: Helmut Segner & Sergi Sabater)
page
9:00
40
Lessons learned: How to approach the multi-factorial problem
of fish catch decline?
Patricia Holm, University of Basel, Switzerland
6
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
9:30
Multiple stress in aquatic ecosystems: Diagnostic, mechanistic
and epidemiological approaches
Helmut Segner, University of Bern, Switzerland & Daniel Bontje,
Bob Kooi, Isabel Muñoz, Peter C. von der Ohe, Stefanie Rotter,
Sergi Sabater, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen, Helmut Segner, Michael
Wenger, Dick de Zwart
41
10:00
Identifying major stressors based on integrated (bio)monitoring
data
Dick de Zwart, RIVM, The Netherlands & Leo Posthuma
42
10:20
43
Trends in fish traits and health along a pesticide gradient
Candida Shinn, CNRS, France & Gaël Grenouillet, Guillaume
Guénard, Leslie Faggiano, Sovan Lek
10:40
Modelling sublethal toxic effects on aquatic ecosystems: An
integrated approach
Daniel Bontje, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands &
Bob W. Kooi, Markus Liebig, Bas Kooijman, Thomas Knacker
11:00
BREAK
44
Suggestions for surveillance and investigative monitoring
(chairs: Eric de Deckere & Peter von der Ohe)
11:30
45
Suggestions for improved WFD water quality monitoring
programs
Eric de Deckere, University of Antwerp, Belgium & Joop Bakker,
Dick de Zwart, Marja Lamoree, Pim Leonards, Isabel Muñoz, Claus
Orendt, Claude Belpaire, Bert Van Hattum, Georg Wolfram, Peter
C. von der Ohe
12:00
Why should we monitor lipophilic chemicals in the European
eel?
Claude Belpaire, Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Belgium
& Caroline Geeraerts
47
12:20
SOCOPSE - Support for the implementation of the WFD for
priority substances
John Munthe, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute,
Sweden
48
Closing presentation
12:40
Research needs derived from MODELKEY outcomes
Werner Brack, UFZ, Germany & et al.
13:00
Closure
Werner Brack, UFZ, Germany
7
49
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Abstracts Speakers
8
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
The role of science in international chemicals management
Kees van Leeuwen1
1
TNO Quality of Life, Zeist, The Netherlands, [email protected]
Many activities in the development and implementation of chemicals management strategies
in the EU were preceded by discussions about risk assessment in other organizations, but very
often, accidents and calamities were driving the political process. Multi-stakeholder meetings
about chemical pollution in the river Rhine (IRC), safety of detergents and fabric softeners
(hosted by AIS) and discussions at the OECD and EU were crucial for the follow-up. The role
of science in international chemicals management is important, but limited at the same time
(see figure). Examples will be given to illustrate this at the national (pesticide pollution in the
Netherlands), regional (Sandoz calamity in the river Rhine), and European level (REACH).
What can we learn from these examples? What are the criteria for success and what are the
lessons for the scientists to become effective?
Scientific
aspects
Legislative/
political
factors
Social/
economic
factors
Regulatory
decisions
Risk
assessment
Technical
feasibility
Ethical/
cultural
values
Van Leeuwen, C.J. 2007. Introduction. In: Risk Assessment of Chemicals. An Introduction
(2nd edition). Van Leeuwen, C.J. and T.G. Vermeire, eds. Springer Publishers,
Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 1- 36.
9
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Towards a holistic approach to river basin management
Bob Harris1
1
University of Sheffield, Catchment Science Centre, North Campus, Broad Lane, Sheffield, S3 7HQ, United
Kingdom, [email protected]
River basins are very complicated places. Their physical, chemical, biological, social and
economic systems are highly complex, temporally dynamic and spatially heterogeneous.
These complexities are compounded many times by the connections and interactions between
them. The response of systems to various pressures can therefore be difficult to anticipate and
predict, especially in the context of global change. But as the pressures from both
anthropogenic and natural causes on environmental systems increase, it is no longer effective
or efficient to deal with one issue at a time, since solving one problem often causes another
somewhere else. We must consider the consequences of our actions on all parts of the
environment. This will be difficult for all actors in river basin management since it is human
nature to stay within our own areas solving one issue at a time.
An idealised way to work more holistically and make our decisions more integrated is to try
and understand these systems and how they interact as best we can. But science will never be
able to explain all the complexity, and thereby reduce the uncertainties in decision-making to
very low levels, and so we have to examine how much we need to know by focusing on the
key linkages that drive the systems and managing these accordingly. An important role for the
scientific community therefore is to reduce the uncertainties in decision-making for policy
makers and river basin managers to acceptable levels. We will need to manage the risks of not
achieving the desired outcomes by focusing on the things – the sources or pressures and their
linkages – that are most important.
Models, and an overall modeling approach, will be increasingly important so that we can
firstly conceptualise and then test our understanding of systems at whatever scale we are
working at. An approach which links our monitoring of the environment with conceptual
modelling will help to unravel the key systemic interactions within and between
environmental compartments, through an adaptive feedback approach. A modeling approach
will also be necessary for the evaluation of different options, particularly as climate change is
likely to change our values and drive us to more radical solutions to environmental issues.
And so we will also need to be adaptive, both in the way we use models, the way we test
solutions and the way we manage the environment; learning to be flexible in the data and
information we need and learning from practice.
Adaptive and participatory approaches to decision-making will therefore need to be developed
in concert with knowledge or risk-based approaches. All this has to be undertaken in the light
of global change and a slow shift in our value system - from the developed world’s current
economic-centred approach to one more aligned with the values that the ecosystem (in the
river basin or catchment) can impart. Understanding the value of the goods and services that a
healthy ecosystem can provide, and these values are diminished by our actions, is the key to a
new approach to river basin management.
10
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
New integrated tools for risk assessment and decision making
on a basin scale
Jos van Gils1, Elena Semenzin2, Muriel Gevrey3, Peter C. von der Ohe4
1
Deltares, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH, Delft, The Netherlands, [email protected]
Consorzio Venezia Ricerche - CVR, Via della Libertà 12, 30175 Marghera-Venice, Italy
3
Université Paul Sabatier / CNRS Bat IVR3, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
4
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Effect-Directed Analysis, Permoserstr. 15,
04318 Leipzig, Germany
2
The 2000 European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires all EU member states to
protect their aquatic ecosystems as a whole and across borders. The main objectives of the
WFD are to achieve ‘‘good ecological status” and “good chemical status’’ for all surface
water bodies by 2015. The 2004 Article 5 Status Reports, providing an assessment of the
actual status of all European water bodies, revealed that 40% of them will probably not meet
the WFD quality targets by 2015 (classified as ‘‘at risk’’ according to WFD terminology),
another 30% have ‘‘insufficient data’’ to assess the actual status, while only 30% are currently
classified as not at risk of degradation.
It is widely recognised that the ecological status is threatened by different pressures, the most
relevant on a European scale being hydromorphological alterations and eutrophication. With
respect to the occurrence and relevance of toxic stress in Europe’s aquatic ecosystems,
maintaining the “good chemical status” ensures that the ecosystem is not suffering from toxic
effects from a list of 33 so-called priority pollutants. The potential toxic effects of other
chemicals, including emerging pollutants, as well as mixture toxicity however, are not
explicitly accounted for.
Europe’s water managers are therefore confronted with questions like “Is the ecological status
(also) impaired by toxic stress?”, “Which are the key pollutants in my water bodies?”, “Which
pollution sources are responsible?”, “Will the ecosystem recover if these sources are
removed?”, “Which sites/areas need a more urgent intervention?”, etcetera. The FP6 Research
Project MODELKEY has been studying these questions, recognising that toxic stress is acting
amidst a range of other pressures. On the basis of this research, new integrated tools for risk
assessment and decision making on a basin scale have been developed. The present paper
presents and discusses these tools, and demonstrates their use.
The tools presented include methods to estimate toxic effects on the basis of observed
concentrations, where bio-availability and bio-accumulation can optionally be accounted for.
Furthermore, various tools to demonstrate the occurrence of toxic stress in the field on the
basis of biological data are discussed. For cases where sufficient data are available, tools to
estimate the contribution of various stressors to the ecosystem impairment are demonstrated.
Using a novel exposure model for European River Basins, different pollution sources can be
ranked according to their downstream exposure and effects to the aquatic environment.
Furthermore, the prediction of (quality elements of) the ecological status under varying
degrees of stress are discussed. Finally, the MODELKEY Decision Support System (DSS)
supports an integrated risk assessment leading to ecological status classification and
prioritisation of hot spots on the basis of environmental and socio-economic aspects. To this
end it embeds some of the tools discussed earlier.
The tools developed have been tested and validated by means of applications on four Case
Study Areas: the Scheldt River (France, Belgium, Netherlands), the Elbe River (Germany,
Czech Republic), the Llobregat River (Spain) and the Danube River (20 European countries).
11
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
The tools presented contribute to a more effective WFD compliant management of Europe’s
surface waters, especially were toxic stress is one of the factors affecting their ecological
status. Recommendations for further work focus on (a) the role of toxic stress in ecosystems
under various pressures, (b) quantification of adverse effects caused by mixtures of key
toxicants, (c) the consolidation of the present knowledge and tools in the management of
emerging pollutants on a European or even global scale, and (d) training of water authorities
and consultants on the adoption of a risk-oriented approach to river basins management.
12
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Assessment of biological responses under multiple-stress condition in
the Scheldt basin (Belgium) using advanced modelling methods
Muriel Gevrey1,2, Lise Comte1,2, Dick de Zwart3, Eric de Deckere4, Sovan Lek1,2
1
Université Paul Sabatier, Lab Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), UMR 5174 CNRS-UPS, 118, route de
Narbonne 31062 Toulouse cedex 4, France, [email protected]
2
CNRS, Lab Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), UMR 5174 CNRS-UPS, 118, route de Narbonne 31062
Toulouse cedex 4, France
3
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Laboratory for Ecological Risk Assessment
(LER), PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
4
University of Antwerp, Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development / Department of Biology,
Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
Due to the numerous anthropogenic stress factors that may affect aquatic ecosystems, a better
understanding of the adverse biological community affected by combined pressures is needed
to reach the Water Framework Directive (WFD) objectives to preserve the good ecological
status of the ecosystems.
First a method based on artificial neural networks, an unsupervised algorithm called SelfOrganizing Maps has been used to identify main aquatic invertebrate assemblages and relate
them to the chemical and toxic water status of the monitoring sites in several sub-basins of the
Scheldt basin. Five main clusters have been defined, each characterized by a typical aquatic
invertebrate assemblage described by indicator families and functional feeding habits. Two
clusters reflect a relatively clean environment. These clusters are composed of taxa typically
non-tolerant to pollution and are represented by very well diverse functional feeding groups.
These assemblages were related to low conductivity and high dissolved oxygen and oxygen
saturation values and for one of them the lowest msPAF value. The three others were
inversely described with a dominance of deposit feeders, oligochaetes as indicator taxa and
high values for biological oxygen demand, suspended matter, nitrogen, orthophosphate and
also the highest msPAF values. The distribution of the results on the geographic map of the
basin showed that the cleanest assemblage was related mainly to the sites from the Nete subbasin.
Secondly, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) analyses using the backpropagation algorithm
focusing on community-level impacts were carried out to identify the relative importance of
environmental and toxic stress factors on the 5 main observed patterns. Our results show that
the use of this method appears to be a promising approach to highlight the relationship
between environmental pollution and biological responses. It allows the discrimination of the
effects of chemical exposure from the effects caused by other stressors in running waters.
Finally, in order to analyse the response of each taxon independently, a random forest method
was applied to predict the presence-absence of the taxon using the chemical and toxic
variables as predictor. Sensitivity analysis method was then used to define the most important
variable for each taxon and to develop some scenarios. Such analyses can then be used to
support ecological assessment of a river and then be useful for decision-makers in evaluation
of chemical and toxic water status, as required by the EU Water Framework Directive.
13
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
A MCDA-based procedure to prioritize hot spots at basin scale
Stefania Gottardo1,2, Laura Onofri3, Paulo A.L.D. Nunes3, Elena Semenzin1, Alex
Zabeo1, Jonathan Rizzi2, Andrea Critto1,3, Silvio Giove4, Dick de Zwart5, Antonio
Marcomini1,2
1
Consorzio Venezia Ricerche, Via della Libertà 5-12, 30175 Marghera-Venezia, Italy, [email protected]
Department of Environmental Sciences, Italy
3
Centre IDEAS – University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Italy
4
Department of Applied Mathematics, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Italy
5
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Laboratory for Ecological Risk Assessment
(LER), PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
2
Within SP DECIS a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA)-based procedure to prioritize
hot spots at basin scale was developed and implemented in the Integrated Risk Indices
module, representing the core of the MODELKEY Decision Support System (DSS).
The hot spots prioritization procedure is aimed to support water managers in targeting their
economic efforts to those sites along river basins that strongly need management
interventions. To this end it takes into account both environmental (i.e. risk assessment) and
socio-economic (e.g. water uses valuation) perspectives. The procedure is based on three main
criteria. The first one considers water quality scores in relation to the pressures that can insist
on the river basin (i.e. organic pollution, eutrophication, acidification, toxic pressure and
hydro-morphological pressure). This information is obtained from the risk assessment
procedure that starts from the available environmental data of the river of concern and
calculates a quality score in relation to each pressure at the i-th site by means of MCDA
methods. The second criterion evaluates the vulnerability of the considered water uses (i.e.
industrial, agricultural, energy production, residential, recreational) to the different pressures.
The expert (with long experience and good knowledge on water uses concerns) is involved in
evaluating vulnerability relationships between uses and pressures at the i-th site in qualitative
terms (i.e. very high, high, medium, low, null vulnerability). The third criterion is represented
by the socio-economic importance of the water uses in the region of concern that is evaluated
in terms of i) consumption or utilize of water resources for each use, ii) market’s
productivity/efficiency for that use, iii) market’s competition conditions for the referred use.
Comparison and integration, through a dedicated Fuzzy Inference System (von Altrock,
2005), of the results obtained for each criterion allow to evaluate and highlight a sort of
“incompatibility” between low water quality conditions caused by specific pressures at the ith site and socio-economic uses of that water resource. As result sampling sites as well as
water bodies are ranked and hot spots are visualized and selected by means of GIS tools.
The results of the application of the hot spots prioritization procedure to the MODELKEY
project case studies (i.e. Llobregat, Scheldt and Elbe) will be presented and discussed during
the presentation.
14
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Evidence and diagnosis of toxic stress towards aquatic organisms
Claude Belpaire1, Werner Brack5, Eric de Deckere2, Isabel Muñoz3, Claus Orendt4,
Stefanie Rotter5, Claudia Schmitt2, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen5, Peter C. von der Ohe5,
Sergi Sabater6, Helmut Segner7, Georg Wolfram8*
1
Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Duboislaan 14, 1560 Groenendaal-Hoeilaart, Belgium
University of Antwerp, Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development / Department of Biology,
Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
3
University of Barcelona, Department of Ecology, Av. Diagonal, 645 08028 Barcelona, Spain
4
Orendt Hydrobiologie, WaterBioAssessment, Brandvorwerkstr. 66, 04275 Leipzig, Germany
5
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
[email protected]
6
University of Girona, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Campus Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Spain Spain
7
University of Bern, Centre for Fish and Wildlife Health, P.O. Box 8466, 3301 Bern, Switzerland
8
DWS Hydroökologie GmbH, Zentagasse 47, 1050 Vienna, Austria
*authors in alphabetical order
2
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) builds the legislative framework that
requires a good water quality in Europe until 2015. To achieve this goal, the ecological and
chemical status of a water body is evaluated. The evaluation of the ecological status is based
on the assessment of aquatic species assemblages and uses metrics and indices mirroring a
dose-dependent relationship between a stressor and the occurrence of defined species.
However, the link between (impairment of) ecological status and chemical stress is complex
and seldom elucidated. The current evaluation of toxic stress towards the aquatic environment
is mainly based on comparisons with laboratory single species test results of a limited number
of priority substances, for which environmental quality standards are defined and which are
regularly screened all over Europe. However, there is evidence that communities (defined as
assemblages of interacting species) are more sensitive towards toxicants than indicated by
single species investigations. To be able to allocate remediation efforts for quality
improvement of European waters, a causal link is needed bridging contamination to
impairment of aquatic communities.
The MODELKEY project applied a multi-disciplinary approach for evidence and diagnosis of
toxic stress towards aquatic organisms by combining species inventories, model approaches
and in situ experiments:
• Based on an inventory of benthic species assemblages of macroinvertebrates and
diatoms, metrics and multivariate approaches were used to identify and discriminate
toxic stress in benthic communities.
• Investigations of field populations of European eel in Flanders and in The Netherlands
indicated toxic stress by metals and organic pollutants, jeopardizing a normal
migration and successful reproduction of this endangered species.
• The SPEcies At Risk (SPEAR) index, which is based on specific sensitivity of
invertebrate species to organic toxicants, was applied to assess the effects of
chemicals. Examples include several field studies that show the reduction of sensitive
species with increasing toxicity, expressed as Toxic Units.
• The pollution-induced community tolerance (PICT)-methodology provided causeeffect relationships of toxic pressure to periphyton in a multiple contaminated
environment.
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ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
•
To bridge the gap between laboratory-based toxicity testing, characterized by high
reproducibility and predictability and field approaches characterized by high realism,
in situ investigations provided an evidential bridge for site-specific toxic effects on
aquatic organisms. Examples from caged organisms and transferred communities will
be shown.
Despite remaining challenges in bridging contamination to ecological effects, it became
evident that a combination of laboratory-, field- and model-approaches is needed for evidence
and diagnosis of toxic stress in European aquatic systems.
16
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
From the lab to the field Confirming effects of contaminated sediments on Potamopyrgus
antipodarum in the laboratory with in situ cage experiments in the field
Claudia Schmitt1, Georg Streck2, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen2, Urte Lübcke-von Varel2,
Werner Brack2, Eric de Deckere1
1
University of Antwerp, Research group Ecosystem Management, Universiteitsplein 1 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium,
[email protected]
2
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
Bridging the gap between field and laboratory studies is still a big challenge in modern
ecotoxicology. While mono substance test in the laboratory give reproducible information of
the compounds toxicity or endocrine potential, they give poor indication about the effective
risk in the ecosystem. Pure field studies are, on the other hand, more environmentally relevant
but also more complex and due to the high number of different ecological variables, it is often
difficult to find the causal evidence for the effects observed. Therefore, a combination of field
and laboratory studies can help to get a more complete picture of specific effects e.g. the risk
of endocrine disruption. Within the last years, the research on endocrine disruption in
invertebrates increased and nowadays there are several examples reported in the literature.
Especially prosobranch snails have been recommended as promising candidates regarding the
assessment of endocrine active chemicals. The exposure of parthenogenic females of
P. antipodarum to androgens and anti-estrogens results in a significant decrease in embryo
production whereby the exposure to estrogens and anti-androgens leads to a significant
increase in reproduction. Within the project MODELKEY, so called polluted and reference
sampling sites from three European river basins were selected. An ex situ approach consisting
of sediment contact tests with P. antipodarum showed that half of the polluted sediments led
to a significantly increased reproduction compared to their corresponding reference sites. The
in situ cage experiments at the river Schijn confirmed the results of the sediment contact test,
whereby again a higher reproduction for the polluted site was detected. Moreover, a spiked
fractionation test, where artificial sediment was spiked with fractions of the field sediments,
revealed a higher reproduction for the most polar fractions of the sediment. Altogether, this
study shows the suitability of P. antipodarum to serve as a multifunctional test organism for a
first screening of pollution with endocrine disruptors in aquatic ecosystems. Furthermore, it
points out the importance of combining field and laboratory test, when assessing a potential
risk for field situations. Futhermore, the spiked fractionation test gives a new opportunity for
an effect directed analysis and can lead to a precise identification of the most problematic
chemicals.
17
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Multiple approach to study the impacts of priority and emergent
substances on river communities
Isabel Muñoz1, Damià Barceló2,3, Rikke Brix2, Antoni Ginebreda2, Helena Guasch4,
Maria J. Lopez de Alda2, Julio López-Doval1, Marta Ricart4, Anna Romaní4,
Sergi Sabater3,4
1
Department of Ecology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. [email protected]
Department of Environmental Chemistry, IIQAB-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
3
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Emili Grahit 101, Edifici H20, Parc Científic i Tecnològic de la
Universitat de Girona, Spain
4
Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Spain
2
The main objective of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is the protection and
enhancement of the ecological and chemical status of the surface water bodies. One of the
major goals for environmental management is to establish causal links between stressors and
the quality of ecological systems. Procedures that identify causality allow corrective measures
for habitat recovery and control. Identifying the cause of biological impairment in freshwater
systems is also an essential objective of the WFD. However, the multiple stressors occurring
in natural systems complicate the assignment of causality. Under these circumstances,
multivariate statistical techniques are useful diagnostic tools to find spatial and temporal
relationships between stressors and effects along gradients. These procedures combined with
community experiments in the laboratory allow an examination of hypotheses generated from
field studies.
The industry continuously produce new compounds that reach the natural systems, but their
effects on the ecosystem structure and functioning are poorly known. In this work we present
evidences of multiple stressors on the benthic community in a highly polluted river (Llobregat
River, NE Spain). We have used different but complementary tools to obtain a complete
approach to study the impacts of these emergent substances on the community. Pesticides and
pharmaceuticals as well as other environmental variables were measured in the river at
different discharge periods during two years, jointly with the density, biomass and other
structural and functional parameters of the bacterial, diatom and invertebrate benthic
communities.
The statistical study determined significant relationships between the occurrence of some
substances and community changes. Higher concentrations of some anti-inflamatories and
beta-blockers were related with higher abundance and biomass of Chironomidae and
Oligochaeta. Triazines influenced on the distribution of diatom species. Chlorophyll-a,
photosynthetic efficiency and photosynthetic capacity responses of the biofilm community
were mainly explained by pesticides (up to 91.57% of variance for the chlorophyll-a
response).
Additionally laboratory experiments (short and long term bioassays) using realistic
environmental concentrations showed evidences of those relationships found in the field.
Chironomus riparius as well as the snail Physella acuta responded to the presence of antiinflammatories increasing the biomass with respect to control treatments. Diuron exposition
on biofilm produced changes in species composition and decreased the photosynthetic
activity, the biovolume of the diatom cells and the number of living bacteria.
The described procedure, leading to the connection between chemical and ecological status,
includes chemical, toxicological and ecological approaches. This could show the way in
future risk management decisions for the emerging water contaminants.
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ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Ecology in ecotoxicology: Species interactions, subsidies and services
Lorraine Maltby1
1
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom,
[email protected]
Aquatic ecosystems are extremely important to human well-being, but are under considerable
threat from natural and anthropogenic stressors. For instance, the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment reported 'that 50% of inland water habitats were lost during the twentieth
century', that 'degradation is widespread' and that 'the species biodiversity of inland waters is
the most threatened of all ecosystems1. Freshwater habitats provide a number of ecosystem
services (i.e. benefits to humans), the most obvious being water for domestic use, irrigation,
power generation and transportation. However, they also contribute to human well-being by
maintaining fisheries, treating waste material, cycling nutrients, regulating floods and
supporting recreational activities.
Pollution has been identified as a key driver of the degradation of aquatic habitats and the
ecosystem services they provide and a considerable body of EU legislation is enforced to
assess the potential risk posed by individual chemicals (e.g. REACH, plant protection
products Directive 91/414/EEC, biocides Directive 98/8/EC) or to measure the impact of
environmental contamination (e.g. Water Framework Directive). This presentation will
consider how the approaches used to assess risk and measure impact may be interpreted in an
ecosystem services framework. Particular attention will be given to the importance of species
interactions, the role of structural and functional endpoints, and the consequence of changes in
freshwater habitats for adjacent terrestrial habitats
1
Finlayson et al. (2005) Inland Water Systems In: Ecosystems and Human Well-being:
Current State and Trends (eds: Hassan, R; Scholes, R; Ash, N) Chapter 20, pp 552-583
Island Press, Washington
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ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Effects of triclosan on important ecosystem functions of aquatic
microbial biofilms such as the biostabilisation of sediments
Helen Lubarsky1, Mahmoud Bataineh2, Cédric Hubas3, Francesco Ricciardi4,
Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen2, Werner Manz5, Sabine U. Gerbersdorf1
1
University of Stuttgart, Institute of Hydraulic Engineering, Pfaffenwaldring 61, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany,
[email protected]
2
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
3
Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Biologie des Organismes Marins et Ecosystèmes
(BOME), Département Milieux et Peuplements
4
University of Girona, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Campus Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Spain
5
Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), 56068 Koblenz, Germany
A wide range of health and personal care products enters the surface waters world-wide and it
has been revealed that most of them are persistent to degradation and accumulate in the
environment. For triclosan (2,4,4 – trichloro-2-hydroxydiphenylether, TCS), research could
show the toxicological effects on single organisms and communities such as biofilms to
influence composition, biomass, architecture and activity. Bio-engineering by microbial
communities is a relative new topic in sedimentology and there is no knowledge of the effects
of anthropogenic pollutants on the important ecosystem function “sediment biostabilisation”;
thus this paper addresses the exposure of natural benthic assemblages to TCS and how it
affects composition, EPS (extracellular polymeric substances) secretion and stability of the
substratum.
Natural benthic bacterial assemblages were isolated from sediments and grown on noncohesive substratum (glass beads) while being exposed to 5 different TCS concentrations (2,
10, 20, 50 and 100 µg l-1). Over time, EPS was extracted and quantified as colloidal
carbohydrates and proteins [mg g-1 sediment]. In parallel, bacterial cell numbers were
determined by flow cytometry, the secondary production by thymidin incorporation and the
assemblage composition by in situ fluorescence hybridization (FISH). Substratum adhesion, a
proxy for stability, was followed over time by MagPI (Magnetic Particle Induction).
Over time, the substratum was significantly stabilized by the bacterial assemblages (x 3.5 as
compared to the control without bacteria), but the extent of biostabilisation was negatively
related to increasing TCS concentration. The data on bacterial secondary production
suggested stimulation with increasing TCS concentrations (2 – 50 µg l-1) until they reached
TCS levels which induced negative effects on metabolisms (100 µg l-1). EPS carbohydrates
and proteins concentrations as well as bacterial cell numbers and composition are currently
under evaluation.
TCS, a common and persistent anthropogenic pollutant in aquatic habitats, affected strongly
the directly exposed microbial organisms to induce shifts in their community composition and
EPS secretion, even at environmentally relevant levels. In consequence, this concerned
important ecosystem functions such as carbon flow to higher trophic levels and
biostabilisation of the sediment. Thus, we need to enhance our knowledge on microbial bioengineering and learn how this interacts with changing abiotic factors to confront
environmental pollution by relatively novel substances.
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ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Priority Substances and Chemical Monitoring Activity in the context
of the Water Framework Directive
Mario Carere1 & Madalina David2
1
National Institute of Health, Dept. Environment, Viale Regina Elena, 00161 Rome, Italy, [email protected]
European Commission, DG Environment, Belgium
2
The Council Directive 2008/105/EC on environmental quality standards (EQS) in the field of
water policy represents a key milestone in the context of the implementation of the Water
Framework Directive (WFD). Based on this Directive a harmonized way of good chemical
status is defined for surface water bodies across the Europe.
The EQS, expressed as annual average and/or maximum allowable concentrations, have been
derived for 41 substances (33 priority substances and for 8 other pollutants) in the water
column and only for 3 of these substances in biota compartment. The criteria for deriving
EQS take into account the protection of the pelagic community living in fresh surface waters
and other surface waters, the top-predators against secondary poisoning as well as the human
health protection in relation to drinking water and seafood consumption.
EQS are different for inland waters (rivers, lakes) and other waters (transitional, coastal and
territorial). Moreover, the Directive gives an alternative to the Member States to derive EQS
for the sediment and/or biota instead of those for water.
The preparation of a new list of priority substances is an ongoing process, which is developed
in the context of the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) of the WFD. The overall
prioritisation process is based on significant risk to or via aquatic environment pursuant to
Article 16(1) of the WFD and takes into account the requirements of Article 16(2) of the
WFD. A simplified and pragmatic methodology was developed under CIS taking into
consideration monitoring data collected by Member States for surface waters (for water
column, sediment and biota) and modelling data. For the new list of priority substances, apart
from EQS for water, the EQSs for sediment and/or biota will be defined, if appropriate. In this
process are included notably emerging compounds, including Annex III substances of the
EQS Directive.
The need for the compliance with the EQS requires Member States to improve the monitoring
programmes already established, the quality of chemical measurements and the performances
of analytical methods. For this purpose a Community-wide “chemical monitoring activity”
works under the WFD CIS umbrella. The aim of this activity is to develop guidance on
monitoring, to exchange best practices as well as to test the guidance through organisation of
field trials, to improve/settle analytical methods for the existing/new priority substances and
to develop a common strategy for quality assurance and control of chemical monitoring data.
21
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Key pollutants causing toxic stress
Werner Brack1, Jan Balaam2, Nicole Bandow1, Damia Barcelo3, Rikke Brix3,
Edwin Foekema4, Marja Lamoree5, Pim Leonards5, Urte Lübcke-von Varel1,
Miroslav Machala6, Isabel Muñoz7, Claudia Schmitt8, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen1,
Peter C. von der Ohe1, Kevin Thomas9, Jana Weiss5,10, Dick de Zwart11
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Germany,
[email protected]
2
CEFAS, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0HT, UK
3
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDÆA) - CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034
Barcelona, Spain
4
IMARES, Department Environment, PO. Box 57, 1780 AB Den Helder, The Netherlands
5
VU University, Institute for Environmental Studies, Department of Chemistry&Biology, De Boelelaan 1085,
1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
6
Veterinary Institute, Department of Chemistry and Toxicology, Hudcova 70, 62100 Brno, Czech Republic
7
University of Barcelona, Department of Ecology, Av. Diagonal, 645 08028Barcelona, Spain
8
University of Antwerp, Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development / Research group Ecosystem
Management, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
9
Norwegian institute for Water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalleen 21, 0349, Oslo Norway
10
Joint Research Centre, Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, Via E. Fermi, 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy
11
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
The assessment of European water bodies according to the EU Water Framework Directive is
based on both the ecological and the chemical status. For the ecological status, the biological
quality elements (BQEs) fish, macro-invertebrates, phytobenthos, phytoplankton and
macrophytes are considered, while the chemical status focuses on the concentration of
presently 33 priority pollutants in water and sediments. MODELKEY provides strong
evidence that these priority pollutants cover only a limited fraction of the hazardous chemicals
that occur in European rivers and lakes. Many other key toxicants present have the potential
to affect the ecological status in our freshwater systems.
In this presentation, the ongoing review for the EU DG Environment of the list of priority
substances, carried out by the International Office for Water and INERIS, will be discussed
with respect to its potential to truly cover those compounds that are responsible for biological
effects in situ. This review process is seen as a big advancement, however, it still leaves
significant questions unanswered.
In the framework of MODELKEY, alternative methods to derive priority pollutants from
monitoring data have been developed. These were based on toxic units (TUs) and multi
species Potentially Affected Fractions (msPAF), together with other correlative approaches.
As a result, suggestions for potential novel priority pollutants have come up. By using these
novel approaches for monitoring data analysis, it was shown that pesticides were of major
importance for invertebrates and micro-algae, while correlation of pharmaceutical
contamination with benthic communities in the Llobregat suggested a possible causal
association of some anti-inflammatory drugs and beta-blockers with invertebrate
communities.
It is obvious that prioritization approaches based on monitoring data have an inherent
shortcoming that emerging compounds will not show up on prioritization lists as long as they
are not monitored and there is no reason to monitor them as long as they are not regulated. In
order to avoid this loop, within MODELKEY alternative approaches to derive candidate
compounds for future consideration as priority pollutant in monitoring programs were
developed. Effect-directed analysis (EDA) at sites of interest, including hot spots of
22
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
contamination, sedimentation zones or sites of specific concern (e.g. drinking water
abstraction, valuable ecosystems, dredging areas) is the most promising of these alternative
approaches.
EDA studies within MODELKEY included a broad range of toxicological endpoints that are
relevant for ecosystems and for human health. Together with classical in vivo tests
representing members of WFD BQEs several in vitro test systems were applied covering a
broad array of endocrine endpoints including estrogenicity, androgenicity, Ah-receptor
mediated effects, thyroid hormone disruption but also mutagenicity and antibiotic activity.
The MODELKEY EDA studies were centered around sediments because of their potential to
accumulate many toxicants. While classical, non-polar, persistent organic pollutants are still
of relevance in the water bodies assessed by MODELKEY, EDA clearly indicated a high
potential of polar fractions to affect most toxicological endpoints. This tendency was further
enhanced when bioavailability was considered in EDA studies. Compounds stemming from
personal care products such as the biocide triclosan and different musk compounds were
identified as key toxicants in sediments. Other examples include steroid compounds, the
flame retardant tris(2-chloroisopropyl)phosphate and different nitro- and oxy-PAHs. Modeof-action based effect assessment together with mechanism-based understanding of exposure
in aquatic and terrestrial food webs strongly support the identification of candidate
compounds.
In the future, the combination of alternative monitoring data analysis approaches and EDA
will provide a valuable contribution to enable the improvement of the priority pollutant lists
along various lines of evidence, so that a better chemical and ecological status of European
water bodies may be reached.
23
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Suggestions for new priority substances based on results from
monitoring studies in Catalonia (NE Spain)
Rikke Brix1, Marianne Köck Schulmeyer1, Marinella Farré1, Isabel Muñoz2,
Maria J. Lopez de Alda1, Antoni Ginebreda1, Damià Barceló1,3
1
Department of Environmental Chemistry, IIQAB-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain,
[email protected]
2
Department of Ecology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
3
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Emili Grahit 101, Edifici H20, Parc Científic i Tecnològic de la
Universitat de Girona, Spain
The key objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD, Directive 2000/60/EC) are
the prevention of any further deterioration of water bodies, and the protection and
enhancement of the status (chemical and biological) of aquatic ecosystems and associated
wetlands. In 2008, the WFD was extended by the EU Directive 2008/105/EC, presenting
environmental quality standards (EQS) for priority substances in surface waters. This
document contains 33 priority substances along with an additional 13 which will be reviewed
for possible future inclusion in the list.
However, with the presence of several hundreds of thousands compounds in the environment,
it would seem impossible to obtain a good chemical and biological status of surface water by
only regulating the presence of 33 compounds. Here we wish to illustrate this point using
three case studies within different groups of compounds; endocrine disrupting compounds
(EDCs), pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
In the first case study, concentrations of known EDCs were measured in four sampling
campaigns (over 2 years) with seven sampling points. The concentrations of nonylphenol
(NP) and octylphenol (OP) only exceeded the annual average of the EQS in one sampling
point. However, the calculated estrogenic potential exceeded the expected effect
concentration in several sampling points. This observation led to the recommendation that a
future EQS should consist of the sum of the alkylphenol, short-chain alkylphenol ethoxylates
(1-2 EO units) and carboxylates (1-2 EC units) (Brix et al. 2009).
The second case study explores the cause-effect relationship between the presence of
pesticides and shellfish mortality episodes in the delta of the Ebro river. The presence of 22
pesticides were analysed in water and shellfish samples at six selected sites and the toxicity
was evaluated using three standardized bioassays. A correlation was shown between pesticide
concentration (in water and shellfish), toxicity and mortality episodes. The study further
showed that even though a third of the priority substances are pesticides, none of main
contributors to the observed ecotoxicity; malathion, diazinon and molinate are included in the
list (Schulmeyer et al. 2009).
The third case study the presence of 29 commonly used pharmaceuticals was monitored in
three sampling campaigns with seven sampling points. Simultaneous monitoring of several
benthic invertebrates showed negative correlations between the abundance and biomass of the
invertebrates and the concentrations of selected pharmaceuticals. We further calculated hazard
quotients (environmental concentration over predicted non-effect concentration) and these
surpassed the value one (i.e. problematic concentration) in several sampling points. It can thus
be concluded that even though no pharmaceuticals are included in the list of priority
substances, there is an environmental risk from this group of compounds (Ginebreda et al.
2009; Muñoz et al. 2009).
24
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Brix, R. et al. (2009). "Analysis and occurrence of alkylphenols and estrogens in a European
river and their role as priority pollutants." Submitted to ABC.
Ginebreda, A. et al. (2009). "Environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in rivers:
relationships between hazard indexes and aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity indexes in
the llobregat river (NE Spain)." Submitted to Environment International.
Muñoz, I. et al. (2009). "Bridging Levels of Pharmaceuticals in River Water with Biological
Community Structure in the Llobregat River Basin (NE Spain)." Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry preprint(2009): 10.1897/08-486.1.
Schulmeyer, M. K. et al. (2009). "Pesticides and toxicity determination in water and biota in
the Ebro river delta (Spain)." Journal of Hydrology In press.
25
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Identification and effect assessment of an emerging compound
(triclosan) in testsystems of different biological complexity
Stephanie Franz1, Sebastian Höss2, Nicole Bandow3, Georg Streck3, Werner Brack3,
Rolf Altenburger1, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen1
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Dept. of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Permoserstr. 15,
04318 Leipzig, Germany, [email protected]
2
Ecossa, Giselastr. 6, 82319 Starnberg, Germany
3
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Dept. of Effect-Directed Analysis, Permoserstr. 15,
04318 Leipzig, Germany
A promising tool for the identification of key toxicants in complex mixtures is the effectdirected analysis (EDA). With this approach sediment samples from the Bilina river (Czech
Republic) were extracted and fractionated. Thereby triclosan (5-chloro-2-(2,4dichlorophenoxy)phenol) appeared to be a key pollutant. Triclosan is widely used as broadspectrum bactericide in pharmaceutical and personal care product.
To address the question weather this key toxicant is relevant for potentially exposed
organisms we followed two lines of evidence: (1)Sediment contact tests using nematodes and
plants as test species potentially exposed to contaminated sediments where plants revealed no
risk of triclosan, if bound to sediments. Nematodes show a significant inhibition in
reproduction. (2) Organisms exposed to triclosan in the water phase like algae, crustacean or
fish seems to be at high potential risk with algae as most sensitive organisms. Even
differential sensitivities of microalgae to triclosan have been reported, which may have
significant implications for environmental risk assessment. To derive a mechanistic
understanding of varying microalgal sensitivity to this substance we investigated systems with
different biological complexity and systematic position considering different generation times
and bioavailability.
However, varying sensitivities of the selected microalgal systems remained unexplained.
Comparison of species-specific toxic responses to calculated effect concentrations, derived
from quantitative relationships for narcosis and uncoupling mode-of-action, leads us to the
conclusion that triclosan may address multiple target sites in different microalgal species.
26
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Identification of key toxicants in a river sediment sample using
complementary methodologies: GC-MS and LTQ-Orbitrap
Jana Weiss1, Pim Leonards2, Eszter Simon2, Gerard Stroomberg3, Ronald de Boer3,
Marja Lamoree2
1
Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre (EC), Via E. Fermi, 2749, 21027 Ispra
(VA), Italy, [email protected]
2
Vrije Universiteit, Institute for Environmental Studies, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The
Netherlands
3
Rijkswaterstaat, Waterdienst, Zuiderwagenplein 2, 8224 AD Lelystad, The Netherlands
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) demands a good ecological status of European
surface waters by 2015. A key issue is to identify the most important active compounds
causing a specific effect, i.e. the key toxicants. Effect-directed fractionation is a non-selective
and non-destructive clean up methodology that aims to enable the identification of all
biologically active compounds in a complex sample. In this presentation the identification
procedure of (anti-)androgenic compounds present in a sediment sample from the river
Scheldt will be discussed, and a preliminary list of key toxicants is presented.
The sample was multiple fractionated, and the directing bioassay was the AR-Calux to
measure the androgen receptor binding potency of the fractions. Despite the fractionation
steps to decrease the number of compounds present in a fraction, an immense number of
compounds need to be analyzed and a large dataset needs to be handled. In this work, two
analytical technologies, GC-MS and LC-MS (accurate mass LTQ-Orbitrap) have been used
and two identification strategies adapted to each approach have been tested using a variety of
tools such as AMDIS, NIST Library, EPI Suite and SIEVE.
With the GC-MS approach, 17 non-polar aromatic compounds were identified, mainly PAHs,
while another 71 spectra of as yet unidentified compounds were added into a spectral database
for further evaluation (Weiss et al. 2009. Anal Bioanal Chem, 394:1385–1397).
With the LTQ-Orbitrap 74 masses, i.e. compounds, were tentatively identified, using a
combination of software tools and physico-chemical characteristics related to the fractionation
procedures. Finally, the identity of 8 compounds could be analytically (retention time) as well
as toxicologically confirmed (bioassay). The limiting step of the identification procedure was
the availability of the standards. The identified compounds are present in a high concentration
in the sediment and contribute significantly to the (anti-)androgenic potency of the sample.
In conclusion, the identified compounds are: a number of PAHs, a technical mixture of
nonylphenol, dibutyl phthalate, three polycyclic musk compounds, a natural steroid and two
organophosphates.
Some PAHs and the nonylphenol are already on the priority list in the field of water policy
directive (2455/2001/EC). The musks are known to be endocrine disrupters and more
attention has lately been given to these substances. Only one androgen receptor agonistic
compound was identified, an anabolic steroid with a high potency which was most likely
present in several isoforms in the fraction exhibiting androgenic activity.
Currently, a selection of the identified compounds is being evaluated through testing in an in
vivo assay. In case the results confirm the toxicological/biological properties of the identified
compounds, these key toxicants may be regarded as candidates for the WFD priority
pollutants list.
27
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
QSAR models to support the prioritization of emerging substances
Peter C. von der Ohe1, Werner Brack1, Gerrit Schüürmann1
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany,
[email protected]
In the past decades, the production and use of chemicals has still increased. Many of these
compounds will finally reach the environment, where they may cause adverse effects on
ecosystem or human health. In order to mitigate existing impacts and to avoid future ones, the
European Commission enacted the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Registration,
Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) Directive, respectively. REACH
requires standard toxicity tests and applies safety factors to predict safe levels in the
environment a priori. However, due to the huge amount of different chemicals used, the
authorisation process reaches its limit. Thus a prioritisation of chemicals is required. By
contrast, the WFD is confronted with a multitude of chemicals that are observed in the
environment but whose effects are unclear. Therefore, the authors suggest a combined
strategy: gathered knowledge from the authorisation process may be used to assess chemicals
that may have adverse effects in the environment. On the contrary, chemicals that are already
observed in the environment may trigger their risk assessment in the REACH process.
However, it will be shown that the available toxicity data does not suffice yet to derive
environmental criteria (EC) for all compounds.
Here, quantitative and qualitative structure activity relationships (QSAR) might help to fill
data gaps and to identify compounds that are of specific risk for the environment due to their
environmental concentrations or due to their mode of action (e.g. mutagenic). Existing
knowledge could be used with read-across methodologies to predict properties from similar
compounds or to suggest chemicals that should be tested to extend the application domain of
existing QSAR models. The authors will present a scheme to derive preliminary
Environmental Criteria (P-PNEC) for chemicals based on existing data and QSAR predictions
in order to prioritize their final risk assessment.
For the setup of programs of measures, the implications of exceedance of the environmental
criteria are unclear. Here, experiences from the assessment of pesticides may help.
Correlations of the SPecies At Risk (SPEAR) index (which allows for an assessment of the
effects of organic toxicants on aquatic communities) with Toxic Units (mixture toxicity
models to compare the effects of different organic chemicals), allow to derive an effect
threshold to predict adverse effects in the environment. These could be used for the
prioritisation of chemicals in the environment.
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ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Bioavailability and bioaccumulation as crucial factors linking
contamination and ecological status
Bert van Hattum1, Pim Leonards1, Jussi Kukkonen2, Arto Sormunen2, Anita Tuikka2,
Sander van Vliet3, Joop Bakker3, Foppe Smedes4, Paul van Noort3, Georg Streck5,
Werner Brack5, Nicole Bandow5, Anton Kocan6, Miren Lopez de Alda7, Rikke Brix7,
Isabel Muñoz8, Eric de Deckere9, Chris van Liefferinge9, Vicky Leloup9,
Pavel Jurajda10, Zdenek Adamek10, Mirek Machala11, Jos van Gils4, Yenory Morales4,
Dick de Zwart12
1
Vrije Universiteit, Institute for Environmental Studies, de Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The
Netherlands, [email protected]
2
University of Joensuu, Faculty of Biosciences, P.O.Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland
3
Centre for Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) POBox 17, 8200 AA, Lelystad
4
Deltares, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH, Delft, The Netherlands
5
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
6
Slovak Medical University, Department of Toxic Organic Pollutants, Limbova 12, 833 03 Bratislava, Slovakia
7
CSIC, Department of Environmental Chemistry, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
8
University of Barcelona, Department of Ecology, Av. Diagonal, 645 08028 Barcelona
9
University of Antwerp, Inst. of Environment & Sust. Development, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
10
Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences, Kvetna 8, 603 65 Brno Czech Republic
11
Veterinary Research Institute, Dept. Chemistry and Toxicology, Hudcova 70, 62100 Brno, Czech Republic
12
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Traditional approaches in compliance monitoring and risk assessment of chemicals in the
aquatic environment are based on the measurement and evaluation of total concentrations in
water and sediment. Although it is known since long, that in many cases only a limited part of
the contaminants bound to sediments, soils, suspended particulate matter, and colloids may be
available for uptake by organisms, to date only a few standardized approaches exist that
properly address bioavailability in monitoring and modelling studies. A multitude of factors
may determine the bioavailability of organic chemicals in sediments, including: 1) sediment
characteristics, such as the type and quantity of organic matter (regular organic carbon, black
carbon, grain size, ageing, 2) compound properties, such as lipophilicity, chemical structure
(e.g. planarity), 3) organism related factors, such as lipid content, body size, age, feeding
habits, reproduction, habitat use, migration, biotransformation, and trophic position, and 4)
environmental factors such as e.g. temperature and season effects, contact time.
In the Modelkey project much effort was allocated to the assessment of bioavailability and
bioaccumulation in integrated field, laboratory and model studies. The laboratory desorption
and bioaccumulation studies with spiked contaminants demonstrated that, although our
understanding of the factors involved is far from complete, the rapidly exchanging fraction
and the freely dissolved water concentrations appeared to be most predictive parameters for
most of the compounds. Biomimetic methods (SPME, POM, Tenax- and Silicon-extractions)
and passive samplers (SPMD, POCIS) were applied in field and laboratory studies to
determine freely dissolved (pore) water concentrations or exchangeable fractions. Fieldderived organic carbon adsorption coefficients (Koc) of PAHs and PCBs appeared to be much
higher compared to values from experimental studies.
Bioaccumulation and trophic transfer were addressed in the field studies, where in-situ levels
of a broad range of compounds were determined in sediments, suspended matter, water,
biofilms, fish and invertebrates, sampled in the Scheldt (estuary and freshwater tributaries),
Elbe and Llobregat. The contaminants included: traditional PAHs, PCBs, dioxins, chlorinated
29
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
pesticides to PCNs, brominated flame retardants, PFOS, alkyl phenols and ethoxylates,
cationic surfactants, estrogens, pharmaceutical compounds, and polar pesticides. The results
demonstrated a large variation in BSAFs between compounds, organisms and rivers,
reflecting differences in uptake mechanisms, bioavailability and biotransformation. The
results for dioxin-like compounds indicated that the assessment of bioaccumulation and
trophic transfer is essential for assessment of risks of secondary poisoning in predatory
species.
A rate-constant based first-order multi-compartment model was used for the prediction of
bioaccumulation and food web transfer. Decreased bioavailability due to sequestration in
black carbon was included. The model was part of the integrated EXPOBASIN model. The
results of the field studies were used for validation, covering a large number of different
compounds (148), compound classes (10), different habitats (6), and organisms (14). The
EXPOBASIN model provided estimates that usually were within 1-2 orders of magnitude of
measured concentrations. Areas for improvements included: incorporation of
biotransformation, the inclusion of processes and mechanisms for trace elements and polar
(emerging) compounds.
The combined results revealed that, although current assessment methods for bioavailability
still involve considerable uncertainties, a combination of modeling partitioning to different
organic carbon phases and application of assessment methods to estimate freely dissolved
(pore) water concentrations or exchangeable sediment concentrations seems to be the most
effective approach for management decisions.
30
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Evaluation of bioavailability of chemicals in sediments - Let the
organisms tell us the story
Jussi Kukkonen1
1
University of Joensuu, Faculty of Biosciences, P.O.Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland,
[email protected]
Sediments act as a sink and a source for different types of contaminants. Thus, sediment
exposure evaluations should be an important component for both ecological and human health
risk assessments. Credible, cost-effective methods are required to determine the rate and
extent of bioaccumulation given the potential importance of bioaccumulation by benthic
organisms. Standardized test methods to assess the bioavailability of sediment-associated
contaminants are required to assist in the development of well defined sediment quality
criteria and to assess the potential impacts of disposal of dredge materials.
The extent to which sediment-associated contaminants are biologically available and
bioaccumulated is important in order to assess their direct effects on sediment-dwelling
organisms and assess their transport to higher trophic levels. More well designed studies are
required to determine the potential for bioaccumulation that can be interpreted and modelled
for predicting the impact of accumulated chemicals. This is a demanding work because,
bioavailability of any given contaminant is not a constant factor but rather an organism and
system dependent parameter. The ecology and behaviour of organisms in the given
environment is one important factor determining potential bioaccumulation of contaminants.
Accurate prediction and evaluation contaminant exposure and accumulation from sediments
remains difficult because of the complex interactions between the contaminant, the sediment,
and the organism. The best option would be the site specific approach where sedimentdwelling organisms are used in sediment contact test to evaluate the bioaccumulation. If this
is not possible, the use of freely dissolved concentration in the pore water to estimate the
bioaccumulation might be an alternative.
31
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Consideration of bioavailability in the Effect Directed Analysis
of sediments
Nicole Bandow1,2, Rolf Altenburger2, Katrin Schwab2, Georg Streck2, Werner Brack2
1
University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829 Landau, Germany, [email protected]
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
2
Sediments play an important role for the water quality of the water bodies, because they serve
as sink as well as source of contaminations. Identification of toxicants in the sediments is
therefore an important task. Effect-Directed Analysis (EDA) has been applied successful to
identify responsible toxicants, but this approach does not consider bio availability of the
toxicants. The bio availability of compounds depends on their physico-chemical properties
and properties of the sediment particles. We would like to present two different concepts to
include bio availability in the EDA of sediment samples. The bio accessible fraction, which
desorbs in time frames relevant for the interaction between compounds and organism, can be
obtained by TENAX-extraction. Partitioning-based dosing of ASE extracts simulates the
distribution of compounds between the sediment and the aqueous phase. Both approaches lead
to different prioritization of fractions and toxicants compared to the results of EDA studies
with ASE extracts containing all extractable compounds. The toxicity of the ASE extracts is
dominated by fractions containing PAHs, while the toxicity of these fractions is reduced with
TENAX-extraction and partitioning-based dosing. The relevance of fractions containing more
polar compounds is increased when the new approaches are used. This shift in the
prioritization of fractions underlines the need considering bio availability for a greater
environmental realism in the EDA of sediments.
32
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Assessing (eco)toxicological risk and impact in differing and changing
environments, with special focus on sediments
Tinka Murk1
1
Wageningen University, Section Toxicology, 6700 EA Wageningen, The Netherlands, [email protected]
The seemingly simple question: To what degree do environmental contaminants induce an
ecological effect is usually answered with: That is too hard to tell. After all, contaminants are
present in unknown mixtures of variable composition, ecological and environmental
conditions greatly influence the outcome but never are the same and even globally changing,
and other stressors easily mask occurring ecotoxicological effects. The answer usually also
includes that results of standardized (eco)toxicological experiments mainly indicate the
hazard of the compounds because translation of laboratory results to field effects is hardly
possible. Indeed, when exposure conditions are not realistic and internal effect levels are not
determined, it is very tricky to relate the results to contaminant levels in the field. This
answer, however, would be too pessimistic. With a more systematic, rational approach it is
very well possible to design experiments that take key factors into account, providing better
applicable results. And more importantly, these more rationally designed experiments will
contribute to the theory development needed to improve ecotoxicological risk assessment.
This will reduce the need to perform new experiments over and over again to assess the
impact of compounds on the health of differing or changing environments. This approach will
be illustrated with results from chemical, toxicological and ecological studies focusing on
contaminated sediment. Special attention will be paid to the possible role of in vitro and in
vivo bioassays hazard, risk and local impact assessment of contaminated sediments.
33
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Weight-of-Evidence approach for ecological status classification and
evaluation at site-specific scale
Elena Semenzin1, Stefania Gottardo1,2, Andrea Critto1,2, Alex Zabeo1,3, Silvio Giove4,
Dick de Zwart5, Antonio Marcomini1,2
1
Consorzio Venezia Ricerche, Via della Libertà 5-12, 30175 Marghera-Venezia, Italy, [email protected]
Department of Environmental Sciences, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Italy
3
Department of Informatics, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Italy
4
Department of Applied Mathematics, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Italy
5
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Laboratory for Ecological Risk Assessment
(LER), PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
2
The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires to develop specific methodologies for
evaluating and classifying the ecological and chemical status of surface water bodies.
Taking into account the number of metrics and indicators that are nowadays available for each
quality element (biological, physico-chemical, chemical and hydromorphological) and the
highly conservative framework recommended by WFD (e.g. one-out, all-out principle), within
the MODELKEY project a risk assessment methodology based on a Weight of Evidence
(WoE) approach and applying a dedicated Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) is proposed and
developed. WoE can be defined as the determination of possible environmental impacts based
on multiples Lines of Evidence (LoE) that are intended to be a set of information pertaining to
an important aspect of the environment (Smith et al., 2002). The basic principle of WoE
approaches is that if most of the assessment results suggest impairment, then there is a greater
likelihood that there truly is ecosystem impairment; if most of the assessment results suggest
no impairment, then this is most likely (Burton et al., 2002). In the proposed risk assessment
methodology a set of environmental indicators belonging to five LoE (i.e. biology, chemistry,
ecotoxicology, physico-chemistry and hydromorphology) are considered and hierarchically
structured in order to calculate Integrated Risk Indices (IRI) aiming at evaluating both
ecological and chemical status of water bodies and sampling sites. The final output is
expressed as probability distribution on the five WFD status classes (i.e. high, good,
moderate, poor, bad) and visualized by means of a pie-chart as reported below. Moreover the
IRI allow to identify the most impaired biological communities (key ecological endpoints)
and the most relevant causes of impairment (key stressors and key toxicants).
The whole procedure was preliminarily applied to three case studies (i.e. Elbe, Scheldt,
Llobregat) and it was implemented as a specific module within the MODELKEY Decision
Support System (DSS) guiding water managers in selecting hot spots and in targeting
management actions. In particular, through the GIS-based visualization of the obtained
results, the IRI module identifies the need of further investigations at site-specific scale,
supports the set up of additional monitoring programs and finally addresses the selection of
consecutive interventions.
34
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Example of IRI results: pie-charts for each sampling site expressing the probability
distribution of ecological status on WFD status classes.
35
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
A tiered approach to assess impact by chemicals on ecological status
Edwin M. Foekema1, L.A. van Vliet2 et al.
1
IMARES, Environment Department. P.O. Box 57, 1780 AB, Den Helder, The Netherlands,
[email protected]
2
RWS Centre for Watermanagement, P.O. Box 17, 8200 AA, Lelystad, The Netherlands
The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) forces water managers to invest in
reaching a so called ‘good’ chemical and ecological status of its water bodies by the end of
the year 2015. According to the WFD, the chemical status is negatively affected by the
presence of one or more of the 33 priority substances above substance specific threshold
levels. In this case it is clear to the water manager what should be done to improve the
chemical status: remove the (source of the) identified priority substances. Although the
question how to achieve this is sometimes more difficult to answer, at least the water manager
knows on which level intervention is needed.
The ecological status is described based on community indices for selected taxonomic groups
(i.e. benthic diatoms, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and fish). If the ecological status of a
water body is poor, it is much more complicated to identify the causes. The structure of an
aquatic community is strongly determined by environmental factors, such as hydromorphological and physical characteristics of water(body) and sediment, and in most
situations by the presence of anthropogenic disturbances, including contamination.
The list of priority substances contains only a fraction (33+ substances) of the 100.000s
chemicals that can be present in the environment. Therefore, the qualification ‘good chemical
status’ can never guarantee that the ecological status is not affected by toxic compounds. This
yields a potential problem for water managers, since expensive measures to improve hydromorphological characteristics of a water body may be hardly effective if in reality the
ecological status is affected by the presence of unknown toxic compounds.
In this presentation we introduce a flow chart that can be used as a guideline to assess if the
present ecological status of a water body is (also) affected by toxic compounds. And, if this is
the case, how the responsible (group of) toxic compounds can be identified with the various
chemical, toxicological and ecological tools available. This approach can help water managers
in choosing the most effective measure to improve the ecological status of a water body.
36
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
In vitro toxicity of aromatic compounds identified in river sediments
from the Czech Elbe basin hot-spot regions
Miroslav Machala1, Miroslav Ciganek1, Jiri Neca1, Katerina Pencikova1,
Lenka Vykopalova1, Sona Marvanova1, Lenka Trilecova1, Pavlina Simeckova1,
Pavel Krcmar1, Jan Topinka2, Anton Kocan2, Georg Streck4, Werner Brack4,
Jan Vondracek1
1
Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic, [email protected]
Institute of Experimental Medicine, CAS, Prague
3
State Health University, Bratislava, Slovakia
4
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
2
In our previous studies, two highly contaminated hot-spots were identified in the Czech part
of the Elbe River. Extraction and fractionation techniques, GC/MS, GC/HRMS, HPLC/DAD
and LC/MS/MS were used to identify and/or quantify the chemicals bound to river sediments
from both these hot-spot and the reference sites. In vitro toxicity of extracts and their fractions
was evaluated using various cellular models derived from liver, breast and prostate cells. A
weak genotoxicity, inhibition of intercellular communication (an assay detecting tumorpromoting activity) and antiandrogenicity were observed. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor
(AhR)-mediated activity was the most important effect in both neutral aromatic and polar
fractions of sediments extracts; a significant estrogenicity was found in polar fractions. Our
further studies focused on identification of the chemicals contributing to either AhR or
estrogen receptor (ER) activation. In vitro potencies of a large series of individual aromatics
identified in sediments were developed for assessment of AhR- or ER-mediated effects. Apart
from PAHs, several other polyaromatics (9-methylbenz[a]anthracene, benzo[b]naphtho[2,1d]thiophene) appear to significantly contribute to the AhR-mediated activity. However, polar
aromatic compounds responsible for a major part of the AhR activity remain to be identified.
Estrone and partially estradiol were identified as the major compounds eliciting to the ERmediated activity. The industrial xenoestrogens (phthalates, nonylphenols and musk
compounds) and plant sterols did not contribute significantly to estrogenicity of polar
fractions. [Supported by the EC project MODELKEY No. 511237-GOCE and the Czech
Science Foundation, grant No. 525/08/1590].
37
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
How “omic” data can assist in monitoring and risk assessment of
chemicals and particles in the aquatic environment
Kevin Chipman1
1
School of Bioscience, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK, [email protected]
Functional genomics technologies provide measurements of many thousands of parameters
within individual animals and help to characterize the phenotypic state of tissues following
exposure to toxicants. This offers a unique opportunity to the ecotoxicologist to perform an
unbiased search for candidate target pathways of response especially for chemical mixtures or
nanomaterials for which toxicity is unknown and unpredictable. In a recent workshop ‘Fish
toxicogenomics - moving into regulation and monitoring’, it was concluded that (while there
remain key needs relating largely to validation, resources for non-model organisms and
interpretation of compensatory versus toxic responses), omics technologies are already useful
for elucidating modes of action of toxicants and can contribute to the risk assessment process
in regulatory toxicology as part of a ‘weight of evidence’ approach. A strategy for the
utilisation of such data will be presented and examples of successes in contributing to the
derivation of mechanisms of toxicity and classification of adverse responses to chemicals and
nanomaterials will be given. In addition, evidence for the improvement of the understanding
of the impact of chemicals in the environment will be presented with particular emphasis on
comparative laboratory and field studies in the European flounder supported by
bioinformatics. It is realized that a multi-level, systems biology approach to safety
assessment, combining molecular- (including mRNA, protein and metabolites), cellular-,
tissue-, individual- and population-level data represents a powerful new multidisciplinary
approach to identify batteries of biomarkers with much improved predictive capacity.
38
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Linking metabolic changes to phenotypic observations to assess
responses of algae after exposure to key toxicants
Frédéric Sans-Piché1, Christina Klünder1, Janet Riedl1, Ivonne Löffler1, Rolf
Altenburger1, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen1
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology,
Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany, [email protected]
The assessment of risks of chemicals towards biota in aquatic systems is one of the major
concerns of environmental research. Current challenges of ecotoxicology like the
extrapolation of chronic effects from acute observations, the development of early warning
systems like biomarkers, mode-of-action analysis of new chemicals or understanding of
differences in species sensitivity can not be dealt using growth-based approaches solely, but
improvements may be achieved from metabolomics.
Metabolomics is defined as the unbiased identification and quantification of all low molecular
weight biomolecules or metabolites, such as sugars, amino acids and fatty acids, present in a
biological system in a particular physiological or developmental state.
The aim of this study was to establish a combined approach for phytotoxicity evaluation by
linking biochemical responses of the microalga S. vacuolatus to phenotypic responses after
exposure to key toxicants.
Synchronized cultures of algae were exposed during 14 hours to a concentration series of Nphenyl-2-napthylamine covering the range of no to full growth inhibition, including
environmental concentrations, found in the Elbe-basin for this key-pollutant. Metabolites
levels as well as diverse phenotypic parameters were measured. An experimental design was
developed for multi-parallel analysis of low-molecular weight hydrophilic and lipophilic algal
compounds after liquid-liquid extraction in water/methanol/chloroform, subsequent
derivatisation and by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and multivariate pattern
recognition.
Concentration-dependent relationships of metabolite patterns were found after exposure to the
industrial chemical PNA. Metabolomics shows an ability to detect effect on algae at much
lower concentration of PNA than established parameters such as photosynthesis inhibition
could do. Linked to phenotypic observations, metabolic profiles can provide new insight in
biological changes.
39
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Lessons learned: How to approach the multi-factorial problem of
fish catch decline?
Patricia Holm1
1
Institute Man-Society-Environment, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Vesalgasse 1,
4051 Basel, Switzerland, [email protected]
A 60% decrease in brown trout catch was stated in Switzerland between 1980 and 2000. As
well, regional declines in fish health, especially in densely populated areas and downstream of
sewage treatment plants were found. In response, a Swiss-wide research project, named
Fischnetz, was initiated to document the spatial and temporal patterns of catch decline and
impaired fish health, identify the most important causes and suggest measures for
improvement. In a first step, 12 hypotheses were raised, dealing with the most likely causal
factors, such as bad water quality, both in respect of adverse compounds, as well as in respect
of morphology, increased fine sediment load, predators, fish diseases (such as proliferative
kidney disease PKD), low recruitment rate, inadaequate fisheries management and negative
effects of climate change.
Here, I will focus on the question how we approached the question of bad ecological water
quality in our project Fischnetz. Besides collecting limno-chemical data, we measured
pesticides, flame retardants and exposure to estrogen-like activity, and raised data on habitats
and streambed quality. Also, availability of benthic prey resources and on the hydrological
regime and river water temperature were studied.
To integrate the data, besides the common methods of statistical analyses, we used Bayesian
probability networks and the weight-of evidence-approach. Finally, these both approaches
were compared to asses their utility, as well as to identify causes for potential (mis)matches.
We were able to demonstrate a complex situation with interacting factors as responsible for
the fish catch decline in many locations: a poor water quality (elevated levels of nitrogen
compounds, especially downstream of some sewage treatment plants, an increased water
temperature, especially an earlier spring and hotter summer) and an insufficient morphology
providing not enough high quality habitats for the various life-stages probably of brown trout
impairing the resilience of the fish and contributes to health problems, poor recruitment and
low abundance at several sites. In conclusion, besides identifying the PKD as the single most
important factor, at most sites, more than one factor acts jointly to cause the observed catch
decline of brown trout in Switzerland.
40
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Multiple stress in aquatic ecosystems: Diagnostic, mechanistic and
epidemiological approaches
Daniel Bontje1, Bob Kooi1, Isabel Muñoz2, Peter C. von der Ohe3, Stefanie Rotter3,
Sergi Sabater4, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen3, Helmut Segner5, Michael Wenger5,
Dick de Zwart6*
1
Vrije Universiteit, Dept. Theoretical Biology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
University of Barcelona, Department of Ecology, Av. Diagonal, 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
3
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
4
University of Girona, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Campus Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Spain
5
University of Bern, Centre for Fish and Wildlife Health, P.O. Box 8466, CH-3301 Bern, Switzerland,
[email protected]
6
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Laboratory for Ecological Risk Assessment
(LER), PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
*authors in alphabetical order
2
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires the „identification of significant
anthropogenic pressures and the assessment of their impact on water bodies (Annex II, WFD).
These pressures include, among others, point source discharges, diffuse pollution, hydromorphological changes, changes of temperature regime, or the introduction of new species
and pathogens. The assessment of ecological quality needs the integration of the cumulative
impacts of all pressures on individuals and communities, taking into account that pressures
may act simultaneously at the same site or can be spatially and temporally separated. Further,
it has to be considered that the sensitivity, tolerance and resilience of an ecological system to
man-made stress depends on its natural characteristics. These include the genetically and
physiologically determined vulnerability of the interacting resident species. Given such a
complex situation, the challenge is to define a hierarchy amongst the multiple stressors in
order to identify and prioritize remedial actions.
The MODELKEY project has taken different approaches to understand and assess the role of
chemical stressors in relation to that of other stressors. These include the development and
application of diagnostic techniques to reveal cause-effect investigations in the field, of
modelling concepts to quantitatively assess combined actions of chemical mixtures, of
experimental approaches to describe and understand the driving processes in stressors
interactions at various levels of biological organization including the community level, and,
finally, the development and utilization of epidemiological approaches to integrate the spatial
and temporal scales in multiple stressor assessment:
• Site-directed diagnostic approaches to disentangle the role of chemical contamination:
a field case study at the Bilina river
• Multivariate investigative monitoring to establish cause-effect relationship: a field
case study at the Llobregat river
• Diagnostic eco-epidemiology of multiple stressors: the case study on the Scheldt Basin
• The role of temporal and spatial heterogeneity in modulating the impact of toxicants
on aquatic ecosystems, e.g., the recolonization of disturbed stream sections from
undisturbed stretches
• Interactions between chemical and biological stressors: molecular approaches
• Interactions between multiple stressors: community approaches
• Interactions between nutrient and toxic stressors: modelling approaches
41
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Identifying major stressors based on integrated (bio)monitoring data
Dick de Zwart1 & Leo Posthuma1
1
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Laboratory for Ecological Risk Assessment
(LER), PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands, [email protected]
Water quality may be subject to a variety of pressures, including changes in physical habitat,
point-source discharges, water abstraction, nutrients and trace organics from domestic,
agriculture and industrial sources. Under unfavorable conditions, each stressor contributes to
the overall net ecological impact, whereby the significance of each individual pressure varies
between locations.
Traditional ecological risk assessment procedures for exposure to toxic chemicals make a
comparison between a predicted environmental concentration (PEC) and a predicted no-effect
concentration (PNEC). The actual ecological impacts of exposure to toxic chemicals in the
environment are rarely, if ever, quantified. In a multiple stress situation, the impacts of
toxicant exposure should be estimated relative to the impact of other stressors, both chemical
and non-chemical. Without this information it is difficult to prioritize management strategies
for environmental mitigation. Therefore, there is a need for a quantitative, consistent and
transparent methodology that allows measured and/or predicted ecological impacts in
particular ecosystems to be assigned to various stressors acting in concert. This type of
ecosystem diagnostic analysis will be very important in developing appropriately targeted
Programs of Measures under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). Identifying those
pressures that pose the greatest threat to environmental quality enables remedial action to be
focused towards those activities or emissions that will result in the greatest environmental
benefit (also per invested budget) and also enables justification of lack of action on those
emissions or activities whose impact is small.
In the European Integrated Project MODELKEY (http://www.modelkey.org), a multidisciplinary pilot study was conducted to analyze impacts and their probable causes in selected river
catchments, with emphasis on the impact of exposure to toxic compounds under realistic
multiple-stress field conditions. Linking a series of models allowed us to quantify the
ecological impact in terms of loss of taxa and to attribute this loss to different stress factors.
The end results are mapped as simple Effect and Probable Cause pie charts (EPC piediagrams), with pie sizes corresponding to the magnitude of local impact (observed loss of
taxa), and slice sizes to the relative probable contributions of different stress factors. From
this, it is concluded the the methods are technically feasible, and that the diagnoses resulted in
relevant, easy to interpret lower-tier descriptions of impacted sites and local causes.
The analyses highlight various weaknesses of current (bio)monitoring practices. 1) There may
be a suite of relevant stress factors that are not monitored and thus not included in the analysis
(e.g. habitat alterations, ship traffic density, cooling water inputs, fishing). 2) There is a highly
variable coverage of toxicants analyzed in individual samples (for the Belgian Scheldt river
ranging from one to 285 toxicants in a sample). 3) The use of yearly maximum concentrations
of toxicants may not represent the toxic pressure variability of the year. 4) There was lack of
data overlap between chemical and biological datasets and there were data inconsistencies.
Many of these issues can simply be overcome, when (bio)monitoring schemes would store
their data according to the rules of good database design and management, e.g., by centrally
offering a data repository for all national WFD-data. For these reasons, the results of current
diagnostic analyses may not be fully representative. The available data sets seem typical for
the current situation in (bio)monitoring, which implies that all of the abovementioned
weaknesses should be addressed in future (bio)monitoring programs.
42
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Trends in fish traits and health along a pesticide gradient
Candida Shinn1, Gaël Grenouillet1, Guillaume Guénard1, Leslie Faggiano2,
Sovan Lek1
1
Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, CNRS/Univ. Paul Sabatier, 118 Rt. de Narbonne, 31062
Toulouse, France, [email protected]
2
University of Girona, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Campus Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Spain, Spain
In order to verify whether different levels of pesticides - mostly herbicides - found in rivers in
South-West France are affecting fish populations, we had a look at their health status and
biological traits. Classification of sampling sites regarding pesticide concentrations are based
on annual surveys performed by the local water agency. Different classifications of the
sampling sites are obtained according to which toxicity indexes are taken into account (eg.
MsPAF, multi-substance Potentially Affected Fraction (of species); SEQ-Eau, the local water
agency's toxicity classification according to appropriateness for drinking-water, aquatic
sports, and aptitude for aquatic life).
An apriori selection of the sites was followed by electrofishing of chub (Leuciscus cephalus)
and gudgeon (Gobio gobio) in summer/ autumn 2008. Our aim was to verify whether fish
from polluted sites, in comparison to those from more pristine ones, present: lower nutritional
status (condition factor), signs of deteriorated health (organo-somatic indexes), constrained
growth, signs of toxic chemical stress (morphometric changes and fluctuating asymmetry),
and higher body concentrations of pesticides.
Preliminary results show that chub from more polluted sites have higher gonado-somatic
index and lower condition factor, whilst the hepato-somatic index did not reveal any
particular tendency along the gradient. Gudgeon from polluted sites tended to have more
external parasites and present significantly larger body height, smaller eyes and smaller dorsal
fin. An attempt is made to find the type of sampling site classification that best fits the
tendencies found in the field.
43
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Modeling sublethal toxic effects on aquatic ecosystems:
An integrated approach
Bob W. Kooi1, Daniel Bontje1, Markus Liebig2, Bas Kooijman1, Thomas Knacker2
1
Dept. Theoretical Biology, Vrije Universiteit, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
[email protected], [email protected]
2
ECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH, Böttgerstrasse 2-14, 65439 Flörsheim/Main, Germany
We study the sublethal (long-term) toxic effects on the functioning and structure of a river
ecosystem. Usually in ecology and toxicology, when studying bioaccumulation, trophic
interaction is model with a dietary preference matrix. This approach implies a steady state for
both ecosystem and the chemical concentrations. The ecological and toxicological models
presented here are based on the Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) mechanistic modelling
approach [1,2]. Using mass conservation laws non-steady-state models are formulated while
an effect model couples the ecological and toxicological models. Nutrient recycling is taken
into account. The environmental conditions for a river reach are simplified by assuming a
chemostat configuration where toxicants are supplied together with the nutrients and organic
matter via a constant inflow of water. Overlying water and sediment compartments as well as
transport of nutrient, organic matter and toxicant are modelled. This approach facilitates the
study of direct as well as indirect toxic effects. For example, a toxicant affecting the
phototrophs can reduce primary production and indirectly reduce food availability for the
herbivores, possibly leading to reduced predator biomass. We will present results for a generic
aquatic ecosystem, consisting of nutrients, detrivores, primary produces, pelagic and benthic
invertebrates, and fish). The model parameters that quantify the biological functioning of the
species (e.g. ingestion and growth rates) as well as parameters that determine effects of
toxicants on this functioning are from laboratory experiments [3,4] and the literature. The
effects on the ecosystem level are quantified as model predictions of a change in biodiversity
due to extinction of species resulting from toxic loading and/or changing environmental
conditions. The results are presented in so called operating diagrams where thresholds form
boundaries of ranges of parameters where the ecosystem is resistant to toxic stress whereby
all other environmental conditions and stresses are taken into account. The model is used to
study changes in biodiversity via toxic stress on a pelagic and/or benthic food chain taking
nutrient limitations into account. This gives insight into the most sensitive populations or
parts of the ecosystem. Furthermore indirect effects can be identified in such a sensitivity
analysis and the interplay between toxic loading on the one hand and starvation due to food
shortages on the other hand. We will give an overview of recent published papers in which
similar models are proposed and we will present a comparison of the different modelling and
analysis techniques.
[1] S.A.L.M. Kooijman. 2000. Dynamic Energy and Mass Budgets in Biological Systems. Cambridge University
Press.
[2] S.A.L.M. Kooijman, A.O. Hanstveit and N. Nyholm. 1996. No-effect concentrations in alga growth
inhibition tests. Water Res., 30:1625–1632.
[3] M. Liebig, G. Schmidt, D. Bontje, B.W. Kooi, G. Streck, W. Traunspurger and T. Knacker. 2008. Direct and
indirect effects of pollutants on algae and algivorous ciliates in an aquatic indoor microcosm. Aquatic
Toxicology, 88:102–110.
[4] D. Bontje, B.W. Kooi, M. Liebig and S.A.L.M. Kooijman. 2009 Modelling long-term ecotoxicological
effects on an algal population under dynamic nutrient stress. Water Research 4 3 : 3292–33 0,
[5] B.W. Kooi, D. Bontje, G.A.K. v. Voorn and S.A.L.M. Kooijman. 2008. Sublethal toxic effects in a simple
aquatic food chain. Ecol. Modelling, 112:304–318.
44
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Suggestions for improved WFD water quality monitoring programs
Eric de Deckere1, Joop Bakker2, Dick de Zwart3, Marja Lamoree4, Pim Leonards4,
Isabel Muñoz5, Claus Orendt6, Claude Belpaire7, Bert Van Hattum4, Georg Wolfram8,
Peter C. von der Ohe9
1
University of Antwerp, Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development, Department of Biology,
Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium, [email protected]
2
Centre for Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat), Lelystad, The Netherlands
3
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
4
Vrije Universiteit, Inst. for Environmental Studies, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
5
University of Barcelona, Department of EcologyAv. Diagonal, 645 08028 Barcelona, Spain
6
Orendt Hydrobiologie, WaterBioAssessment, Brandvorwerkstr. 66, 04275 Leipzig, Germany
7
Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Duboislaan 14 B-1560, Groenendaal-Hoeilaart, Belgium
8
DWS Hydroökologie GmbH, Zentagasse 47, 1050 Vienna, Austria
9
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
Monitoring water quality has a long tradition that goes back several decades, but the tools that
were applied differed a lot between countries or even regions. As a result, similar waterbodies
have been assessed differently due to the parameters recorded and/or the metrics that were
applied for the same endpoint. Hence, one of the goals of the European Water Framework
Directive (WFD) was to harmonise the monitoring strategies all over Europe. The WFD
considers three different types: surveillance, operational and investigative monitoring. The
surveillance monitoring shall be carried out at a sufficient number of sites to provide an
assessment of the overall surface water status and aims to monitor the actual status and to
assess long-term changes resulting from widespread anthropogenic activity. The operational
monitoring should establish the status of those water bodies identified as being at risk of
failing to meet the environmental objectives, and to assess any changes in the status of such
water bodies that result from the programmes of measures. Investigative monitoring again
shall be carried out where the causes of a water body failing to achieve the environmental
objectives are unknown. The MODELKEY Project developed innovative environmental
assessment tools to support all three monitoring programs to unravel unknown chemicals that
might be responsible for the observed degradation.
The complexity of the current monitoring programs as outcome of the Common
Implementation Strategy is very basic with respect to frequency, number of stations, matrices
and parameters, compared to previous national or regional monitoring programs. That favours
the success of intercalibration of assessment tools, but reduces the overall ambition. Within
the MODELKEY project, new assessment tools were tested and applied on existing
monitoring data from four river basins, namely Elbe, Danube, Llobregat and Scheldt. The
experiences gained during the project resulted in suggestions to improve the monitoring
programs applied in function of the WFD. The main strengths of the existing programs have
been the long-time series of standardized methods and the occasional high frequencies,
providing a high temporal and spatial resolution of water quality changes. In some monitoring
programs, chemical and biological assessment in all environmental compartments (water(suspended) sediment- biota) supplemented with ecotoxicological assessments provided extra
tools for early-warning. This is certainly not the case in the WFD three phase monitoring
strategy, where warning only starts when ecosystem effects already occur. Moreover, the
example of persistent, lipophilic contaminants (e.g. PCBs, DDT, BFRs, PFOS) highlights that
it is not sufficient to monitor these substances in the total water phase alone, as required by
the WFD.
45
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
A weak point of the existing monitoring was often a lack of harmonisation of the methods,
which resulted in the fact that water had a different quality when it crossed the border.
Moreover, water quality monitoring in the regular programs was often focusing on
compliance with environmental criteria of a limited number of chemical parameters as well as
on the macroinvertebrate community and not designed to establish cause-effect relationships.
Minimizing monitoring effort was even rewarded by facing fewer problems under the WFD.
The WFD investigative monitoring offers opportunities to determine the causal link between
pressures, stressors and the impact causing an insufficient ecological status. The main aim of
MODELKEY was to address just these cause-effect links. By combining tools working at
different eco-system levels (e.g. from chemical toxicity, via food web bioaccumulation to
biological reproduction) we were able to recognize possible causes of impaired ecological
status. Within this paper we will illustrate the lessons learned from these case studies and
what can be advised to revise the monitoring strategy under the WFD to handle the stressors
that affect the ecological status. The main message is that minimizing the monitoring
ambition at any of the three WFD monitoring phases runs the risk of leaving the real
ecosystem problems to the next generation. This is not the basis for sustainable development,
as also recognized by the European community. Suggestions for improvement include:
• the use of bioassays as early warning indicators in surveillance monitoring. Bioassays
cover a wide ranges of know and unknown chemicals (> hazardous substances).
• to measure biological communities and chemical stressors at the same site and at the
same time to allow for cause-effect relationships.
• to harmonize biological and chemical codes on a European level to facilitate the
application of European assessment tools.
• to discriminate between the optimal matrices for hazardous substances analysis: water
for polar, suspended matter, sediment, biotic tissues for non-polar compounds.
• to explore the use of biomimetic monitoring techniques which are concentrating and
time-integrating, and can be used both for chemical and bioassay analysis.
• to discriminate the contribution of different stressors and pressures (peel the onion)
• to discriminate the ecological targets (organisms), e.g. by food web studies (birds and
fish have completely different stressors).
46
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Why should we monitor lipophilic chemicals in the European eel?
Claude Belpaire1 & Caroline Geeraerts1
1
Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Duboislaan 14 B-1560, Groenendaal-Hoeilaart, Belgium,
[email protected]
The Water Framework Directive aims to guarantee the protection of aquatic life. The
Directive selected a number of priority substances to monitor within the evaluation of the
chemical status of our water bodies. Examples from the Belgian Eel Pollution Monitoring
Network indicate that a monitoring strategy for chemicals should integrate biotic
measurements. The European eel Anguilla anguilla in its yellow phase represents a good
biomonitor model as it is widespread, sedentary, and accumulates many lipophilic substances
in its muscle tissue. For important lipophilic contaminants such as PCBs and DDTs, many
water phase measurements are under detection levels even in places where these chemicals
are omnipresent in aquatic biota. Levels of bioaccumulated contaminants in eel from many
places over its distribution area are that high that effects at the population level are likely to
occur. There is an increasing awareness that eel quality might be an essential element in the
decline of the eel since pollution by bioaccumulating chemical substances may have a large
impact on the population and specifically on its migration and reproduction success.
We conclude that in order to better protect aquatic life, (1) the monitoring strategy for
chemicals in our water bodies should be reviewed and (2) the levels of contaminants in our
aquatic ecosystems need to decrease drastically.
47
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
SOCOPSE - Support for the implementation of the WFD for
priority substances
John Munthe1
1
IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, [email protected]
Project summary
The main objective of the SOCOPSE project is to provide support for the implementation of
the WFD with regards to priority substances. The project is focussed on the development of a
common approach and a Decision Support System (DSS), with associated databases and
compiled information, to support the implementation of the WFD. The DSS and the
associated guidelines have been tested and evaluated in five case studies in different regions
of Europe. The DSS is a step by step decision support plan where each step consists of a
number of sub-steps, feed back loops and sub-decisions leading to the selection of the best
control options. These options include process-oriented options, end-of-pipe techniques,
product substitution and other options for example at Community level. To provide
information on sources of the priority substances, a Material Flow Analysis approach has
been used to describe sources, fluxes and environmental end points for priority substances in
Europe. This approach was found to be successful for the identification of potential emission
sources in river basins although lack of data in some cases prevented a full Material Flow
Analysis. Guidance on the assessment and selection of control measures has also been
developed. The methodology includes a database on control measures which can be expanded
with local data to develop local assessments. A Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) approach is
suggested for ranking of control options.
Conclusions and future outlook
Increased transparency and openness of information on production, use, emissions and
management options is needed. Although SOCOPSE has focused on a limited number of
well-known chemical substances, the availability of information on sources, environmental
concentrations and management options for these substances has been incomplete and
associated with a high degree of uncertainty. This lack of information prevents the assessment
of the main flow paths and emission sources, and thus the assessment of risks and the
development of cost efficient emission control strategies. Increased openness and
communication of information between industry, authorities and the scientific community
would reduce these gaps and uncertainties.
Continued scientific support for the implementation of the WFD is necessary. The
implementation of the WFD is a complex process requiring the compilation and assessment of
large amounts of information on sources, occurence and management options for chemicals.
The availability of this information is variable in different parts of Europe and large
differences in the decision making structure is also evident. The SOCOPSE case studies have
shown that a Decision Support system can assist water authorities to address these differences
in a consistent way. Further development of Decision Support Tools as well as the scientific
and technical knowledge basis is necessary for successful future implementation of the WFD.
An integrated approach for chemicals is needed for future protection of the environment. The
WFD is developed as a legislation mainly focusing on the reduction of emissions from
sources located within individual water districts. Chemical pollution of water bodies is
however in many cases also affected by other sources such as long-range atmospheric
transport, historical contamination and diffuse pollution sources, for example from household
products. To efficiently manage all emission sources an integrated approach involving other
directives (REACH, directives on products, electronics and waste, etc.) and international
conventions (CLRTAP, Stockholm Convention, HELCOM, OSPAR) is needed.
48
ABSTRACTS SPEAKERS
Research needs derived from MODELKEY outcomes
Werner Brack1 et al.
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany,
[email protected]
MODELKEY provided strong evidence that exposure to toxic chemicals in water and
sediment is one of the key stressors in European rivers although direct acute lethality
fortunately is more an exception than the rule today. In most water bodies toxicants occur in
concert with other interacting stressors including habitat degradation due to
hydromorphological changes, sediment loads, eutrophication, unfavorable water chemistry
including oxygen depletion, acidification and high salt loads, invasive species and pathogens.
MODELKEY provided promising approaches to identify and assess multiple stress. Recent
research also provides evidences that indirect effects for example of chemicals on species
interactions or on vulnerability of species to other stressors may play an important role for the
ecological status and ecosystem functions. However, a systematic approach and diagnostic
tools for assessing these effects are still missing and among the big challenges for future
research and management. The assessment of the overall health status of aquatic organisms
and the identification of specific, mode-of-action related changes in the genome, proteome or
metabolome using “omics” techniques should be developed towards a diagnostic tool in risk
assessment of multiple stress. “Omics” may be also a good basis to derive novel biomarkers
and in vitro assays that can be combined with effect-directed analysis to unravel complex
effects of complex mixtures of chemicals in a multiply stressed environment. MODELKEY
could show that priority pollutants are no good indicators for toxic contamination but
emerging compounds are of increasing relevance. These compounds are often polar,
thermolabile and are difficult to identify and analyse in complex mixtures. They may exhibit
emerging effects like thyroid hormone disruption or effects on the immune system. Tools are
required for effect-directed identification, assessment and prioritisation of these compounds.
This should be supported by the development of quantitative structure activity relationship
(QSAR) approaches and structure alerts. Bioavailability has been shown to play an important
role for the risk of chemicals in aquatic ecosystems. Thus, there is an increasing need to
predict bioavailability and the factors that may have an impact on bioavailability in order to
allow an introduction into ecological risk assessment. Ecological models and stressor specific
metrics need to be further developed and interlinked with diagnostic tools to predict risks of
extinction of species or regime shifts in ecosystems. Further research is also needed to
enhance our understanding of the ecology of recovery of ecosystems in order to set up
reasonable time frames and monitoring approaches for success control of mitigation
measures. Concepts should be developed to embed these approaches into a holistic risk
assessment that includes not only water but also land (and its use), interaction with the
atmosphere and climate change.
49
List of Posters
List of Posters
50
List of Posters
No.
1
Authors
R. Kovacevic, I. Teodorovic*, S.
Kaisarevic, S. Fa, K. Pogrmic, I.
Planojevic, V. Dakic
Institutions
University of Novi Sad, Faculty
of Sciences, Department of
Biology and Ecology,
LECOTOX, Novi Sad, Serbia
Country
Serbia
E-mail
teodorovic@
beocity.net
Abstract title
EC FP 6 REP - LECOTOX
PROJECT
EC FP - facilitated success story
how LECOTOX became visible
on scientific map of Europe
Page
62
Germany
karen.hanisch
@ufz.de
Proteome analysis on
synchronized cultures of
Scenedesmus vacuolatus
63
Germany
[email protected]
Response of macrobenthic and
meiobenthic communities to
waste water inflow along a
heavily polluted river in central
Europe (River Bilina, Czech
Republic)
64
Germany
stefanie.rotter
@ufz.de
Do prometryn exposure and salt
stress have interactive effects on
algal communities?
65
Topic 1: Toxic stress on biological quality elements
2
K. Hanisch*, U. Gündel, E.
Küster, R. Altenburger, M.
Schmitt-Jansen
3
C. Orendt1*, G. Wolfram2, S.
Höss3, W. Traunspurger4, Z.
Adámek5, P. Jurajda5, G. Streck6,
P. von der Ohe6
4
S. Rotter*, R. Altenburger, G.
Streck, W. Brack, M. SchmittJansen
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Dept. Bioanalytical
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
1
Orendt-Hydrobiologie, Leipzig,
Germany,
2
DWS Hydroökologie, Vienna,
Austria
3
Ecossa, Starnberg, Germany
4
University of Bielefeld,
Bielefeld, Germany
5
Institute of Vertebrate Biology,
Brno, Czech Republic
6
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Leipzig, Germany
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Dept. Bioanalytical
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
51
List of Posters
No.
Authors
Institutions
Country
E-mail
Abstract title
Page
1
Spain
rbrqam@cid.
csic.es
Strategies for identification of
66
unknown compounds from EDA
studies, using an Orbitrap high
resolution mass spectrometer
Germany
christine.gallam Mutagenic compounds in the
[email protected]
River Elbe
68
Korea
wookkim@
kitox.re.kr
69
Germany
nils.kluever@u
fz.de
Topic 2: Key pollutants causing toxic stress
5
R. Brix1*, R. de Boer2, G.
Stroomberg2, J. Balaam3, J.
Weiss4, M. Lamoree5, P.
Leonards5, M.J. Lopez de Alda1,
D. Barceló1,6
6
C. Gallampois1*, M. Bataineh1,
P. Jurajda2, I. Löffler1,
A. Sperreuter1, G. Streck1,
W. Brack1
7
W.-K. Kim*, J.-W. Lee, J.i-W.
Kim, S.-K. Lee
8
N. Klüver*, K. Scheffler, P.
Renner, S. Scholz
IIQAB-CSIC, Department of
Environmental Chemistry,
Barcelona, Spain
2
Rijkswaterstaat Waterdienst,
Lelystad, The Nederlands
3
Cefas, Lowestoft, UK
4
JRC, Institute for Environment
and Sustainability, Ispra, Italy
5
VUA, Institute for
Environmental Studies,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
6
Catalan Institute for Water
Research (ICRA), Girona, Spain
1
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Department of Effect-Directed
Analysis, Leipzig, Germany
2
Institute of Vertebrate Biology,
Academy of Sciences, Brno,
Czech Republic
Ecotoxicology Research Team,
Korea Institute of Toxicology,
Yuseong, Daejeon, Korea
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Dept. Bioanalytical
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
52
Responses of various
biomarkers in pale chub, Zacco
platypus, exposed to metals
Toxicogenomic response of
azinphos-methyl treated
zebrafish embryos and
implication for the development
of predictive models for chronic
(fish) toxicity
70
List of Posters
No.
9
Authors
S. Scholz1*, M. Knöbel1, J.
Ortmann1, N. Klüver1, F. Busser2,
N. Kramer2, J. Hermens2, K.
Tanneberger3, K. Schirmer3
10
T. Schulze1*, S. Weiss1,3, E.
Schymanski1, P. C. von der Ohe1,
M. Schmitt-Jansen2,
R. Altenburger2, G. Streck1,
W. Brack1
11
E. Simon1*, T. Hamers1, J.
Balaam2, M. Lamoree1, J. de
Boer1and1, P. Leonards1
Institutions
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Dept. Bioanalytical
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
2
Utrecht University,
Environmental Toxicology and
Chemistry, Utrecht, The
Netherlands
3
EAWAG, Dept. of
Environmental Toxicology,
Dübendorf,Switzerland
1
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Dept. Effect-Directed Analysis,
Leipzig, Germany
2
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Dept. Bioanalytical
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
3
Fraunhofer Institute of
Toxicology and Experimental
Medicine, Hannover, Germany
1
VU University Amsterdam,
Institute for Environmental
Studies (IVM), Amsterdam, The
Netherlands
2
CEFAS Lowestoft Laboratory,
Lowestoft, United Kingdom
1
53
Country
Germany
E-mail
stefan.scholz@
ufz.de
Abstract title
The fish embryo test as an
alternative to acute fish toxicity
testing: Optimisation for
difficult compounds and role of
metabolic activation
Page
71
Germany
tobias.schulze
@ufz.de
Effect directed analysis as a tool
for the identification of key
toxicants in complex mixtures,
for example: Identification and
confirmation of a phytotoxic
photo-transformation product of
diclofenac
72
The
Netherlands
eszter.simon@
ivm.vu.nl
Sample preparation method of
biota samples for application in
effect directed analysis
73
List of Posters
No.
Authors
Institutions
Country
E-mail
Abstract title
Page
1
Germany
t.slootweg@
ect.de
Uptake and effects of 1,2,3,5,7pentachloronaphthalene in an
aquatic food chain: from
sediment via benthic organisms
(Lumbriculus variegatus) to
rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus
mykiss)
74
[email protected]
Neozoan invertebrates in the
Czech part of Labe River Basin
Sediment contamination and
natural characteristics
explaining the effects in toxicity
tests with six species
75
Topic 3: Bioavailability and bioaccumulation
12
T. Slootweg1*, M. Dömötörová2,
A. Fabišiková2, E. Igumnova3, A.
Kocan2, P. Mayer4, A. Moeller5,
V. Nikforov3, J. Schmidt1, K.
Smith4, M. Liebig1
ECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH,
Flörsheim, Germany
2
Slovak Medical University,
Department of Toxic Organic
Pollutants, Bratislava, Slovakia
3
Saint-Petersburg State
University, St.Petersburg, Russia
4
National Environmental
Research Institute, Aarhus
University, Roskilde, Denmark
5
University of Berne, Berne,
Switzerland
Topic 4: Multiple stress in aquatic ecosystems
13
J. Spacek*, P. Hajek
14
A.I. Tuikka1*, C. Schmitt2, S.
Höss3, N. Bandow4, P.C. von der
Ohe4, D. de Zwart5, W. Brack4,
A.J. Sormunen1, J.V.K.
Kukkonen1
Povodi Labe, State Enterprise,
Czech
Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic Republic
1
University of Joensuu, Faculty of Finland
Biosciences, Joensuu, Finland
2
University of Antwerp, Wilrijk,
Belgium
3
Ecossa, Starnberg, Germany
4
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Leipzig, Germany
5
RIVM, Bilthoven, The
Netherlands
54
anita.tuikka@
joensuu.fi
76
List of Posters
No.
Authors
Institutions
Country
E-mail
blaha@recetox.
muni.cz
Abstract title
Page
Topic 5: Site assessment
15
Bláha L.1*, Hilscherová K.1,
Macíková P.1, Jálová V.1, Giesy
J.2, Klánová J.1, Holoubek I.1
1
RECETOX, Faculty of Science,
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech
Republic
2
Aquatic Toxicology, University
of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon,
Canada
Czech
Republic
16
Chaumot A.1*, Geffard O.1,
Coulaud R.1, Adam O.1, Quéau
H.1, Charles S.2, Garric J.1
1
France
17
E. de Deckere*, C. Schmitt, T.
van der Spiet
18
B.J.D. Ferrari1*, D.A.L. Vignati2,
J.-L. Roulier1, J. Dominik3
University of Antwerp, Institute
Belgium
of Environment & Sustainable
Development, Wilrijk, Belgium
1
CEMAGREF, MALY, Lyon,
France
France
2
CNR-IRSA, Brugherio, Italy
3
Institut F.-A. Forel, University of
Geneva, Versoix, Switzerland
CEMAGREF, MALY,
Laboratoire d’écotoxicologie,
Lyon, France
2
Université Lyon 1, Laboratoire
de biométrie et biologie évolutive
UMR 5558, Villeurbanne, France
55
Impacts of industrial and
agricultural activities on the
water quality of major river
Morava (Zlín region, Czech
Republic) - detailed
characterization of temporal and
spatial variability
arnaud.chaumot Population level integration of
@cemagref.fr
individual effect measurements
for in situ water quality
assessment: a modelling
approach with Gammarus
fossarum (Crustacean) and
Potamopyrgus antipodarum
(Gastropod)
eric.dedeckere
Risk for erosion of
@ua.ac.be
contaminated sediments
77
benoit.ferrari@
cemagref.fr
80
The “S-WISS1” 2-tiered
approach for in situ assessment
of metal bioavailability and
effects: response to a challenge
for testing non-disturbed
sediment in deep water
78
79
List of Posters
No.
19
Authors
Geffard O.1*, Chaumot A.1,
Xuereb B.1, Lacaze E.1, Geffard
A.2, Quéau H.1, Mons R.1, Noury
P.1, Devaux A.4, Bezin L.3, Garric
J.1
20
Gust M.*, Buronfosse T., Mons
R., H. Queau, Geffard O., Garric
J.
21
S. Höss1*, W. Traunspurger2,
C. Orendt3, G. Wolfram4, Z.
Adamek5, I. Muñoz6, C. van
Liefferinge7, E. de Deckere7
Institutions
Country
France
Cemagref, MALY, Laboratoire
d’écotoxicologie, Lyon, France
2
EA 2069 URVVC-SE,
Laboratoire d’Eco-Toxicologie,
UFR Sciences, Reims, France
3
Laboratoire de physiologie
intégrative cellulaire et
moléculaire, Université de Lyon I,
Villeurbanne, France
4
INRA- LSE, Vaulx-en-velin,
France
Cemagref, UR MALY,
France
Laboratoire d’écotoxicologie,
Lyon, France
E-mail
olivier.geffard
@cemagref.fr
Abstract title
In situ bio-monitoring of water
quality: multi-scale effect
assessment in Gammarus
fossarum
Page
81
marion.gust@
cemagref.fr
82
1
hoess@
ecossa.de
In situ biomonitoring of
freshwater quality using the
gastropod Potamopyrgus
antipodarum
Nematode communities in river
sediments of three different
European river basins – Effects
of anthropogenic contamination
1
Ecossa, Starnberg, Germany
University of Bielefeld, Dept. of
Animal Ecology, Germany
3
Orendt-Hydrobiologie, Leipzig,
Germany
4
DWS Hydro-Ökologie GmbH,
Vienna, Austria
5
Institute of Vertebrate Biology,
Brno, Czech Republic
6
University of Barcelona,
Department of Ecology,
Barcelona, Spain
7
University of Antwerp, Dept. of
Biology, Wilrijk, Belgium
2
56
Germany
83
List of Posters
No.
22
Authors
T. Jancke1*, M. Baborowski2, P.
Morgenstern3, S. Wurms1,
B. Westrich1
23
J. Jarkovský*, K. Kubošová, K.
Brabec, S. Zahrádková, J.
Bojková, P. Bartůšek
Institutions
University of Stuttgart, Institute
of Hydraulic Engineering,
Germany
2
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Dept. River Ecology, Germany
3
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Dept. Analytical Chemistry,
Germany
Research Centre for
Environmental Chemistry and
Ecotoxicology, Masaryk
University, Brno, Czech Republic
Country
Germany
E-mail
thomas.jancke
@iws.unistuttgart.de
Czech
Republic
jarkovsky@iba. Statistical methodology in
muni.cz
identification and application of
species traits in risk assessment
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Department System
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Department System
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
Germany
mikhail.beke
[email protected]
Germany
mikhail.beke
[email protected]
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Department System
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
Germany
mikhail.beke
[email protected]
1
Abstract title
Numerical modelling of flood
induced contaminated sediment
mobilization and its uncertainty
due to spatial variability
Page
84
85
Topic 6: Suggestions for surveillance and investigative monitoring
24
Beketov M.A.*, Liess M.
25
Beketov M.A.*, Liess M.
26
Beketov M.A.*, Liess M.
57
Comparative use of species- and 86
family-level biomonitoring data
for indication of pesticide
effects with SPEAR
SPEARorganic - An indicator for
87
effects of organic toxicants on
lotic invertebrate communities:
Independence of confounding
environmental factors over an
extensive river continuum
Variability of pesticide exposure 88
in a stream mesocosm system:
Macrophyte-dominated vs. nonvegetated sections
List of Posters
No.
27
Authors
Gallé T.*, Huck V., Seiffert S.,
Wilkinson J.
Institutions
CRTE/CRP Henri Tudor, Eschsur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Country
Luxembourg
28
Liess M.*, Beketov M.A.,
Kattwinkel M., Schäfer R.
Germany
29
V. Nikiforov*
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Department System
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
St.Petersburg State University,
Dept. of Chemistry,
St.Petersburg, Russia
30
V. Nikiforov*, I. Bazhenov, L.
Lisitsyn
St.Petersburg State University,
Dept. of Chemistry,
St.Petersburg, Russia
Russia
31
R. Schäfer1*, B. Kefford1,
M. Liess2, V. Pettigrove3,
R. Marchant4, L. Metzeling5
1
Russia
RMIT University, Biotechnology Australia
and Environmental Biology,
Bundoora, Australia
2
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Leipzig, Germany
3
Melbourne Water, Research &
Technology, Melbourne,Australia
4
Museum of Victoria, Melbourne,
Australia
5
EPA Victoria, Macleod,
Australia
58
E-mail
tom.galle@tud
or.lu
Abstract title
Life+ M3-Project : Evaluating
WFD’s programs of measures
with monitoring and modeling
tools
matthias.liess@ Trait based approaches in
ufz.de
biomonitoring
Page
89
vovanikiforov
@yahoo.co.uk
91
Design and synthesis of the
series of polyfluorophenylalkyl
ethers - Performance reference
compounds for passive
sampling devices
vovanikiforov
Use of Hammett equation for
@yahoo.co.uk
estimation of environmental
degradation rates: Nucleophilic
hydrolysis of chloro- and
bromoaromatic POPs
Ralf.Schaefer@ Using SPEARsalinity to identify
rmit.edu.au
effects of salinity on freshwater
systems
90
92
93
List of Posters
No.
Authors
Institutions
Country
E-mail
Abstract title
Page
Spain
Roberta_Carafa Water toxicity assessment in
@URSCorp.co Catalan rivers (NE Spain) using
m
species sensivity distribution
and artificial neural networks
94
France
guenard@
cict.fr
A spatially-explicit assessment
of pollutants impact and macroinvertebrates diversity and
community structure in Danube
river
95
Germany
mira.kattwinkel
@ufz.de
96
Moldova
ipovar@
yahoo.ca
The
Netherlands
jos.vangils@de
ltares.nl
SPEAR Calculator - New tool
for analysis of biomonitoring
and mesocosm studies with
freshwater invertebrates
The buffer intensity theory as a
tool for the evaluation of longstanding effects in intrinsic
chemical remediation of
aluminium in natural waters in
the presence of gibbsite
Exposure modelling on a river
basin scale in support to risk
assessment for chemicals in
European river basins
Topic 7: Risk assessment and decision making on a basin scale
32
R. Carafa1*, L. Faggiano3,
M. Real1, A. Munné2,
A. Ginebreda4, H. Guasch3, F.
Ricciardi3
33
G. Guénard1*, P.C. von der Ohe2,
S. Lek1
34
Kattwinkel M.*, Beketov M.A.,
Liess M.
35
I. Povar*
36
J. van Gils1*, B. van Hattum2, L.
Arentz1, J. van Beek1
1
URSCorp, Barcelona, Spain
Agència Catalana de l'Aigua,
Barcelona, Spain
3
Universitat de Girona, Girona,
Spain
4
Dept. of Environmental
Chemistry, IDÆA-CSIC,
Barcelona, Spain
1
CNRS / Université Paul Sabatier,
Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité
Biologique, Toulouse, France
2
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Leipzig, Germany
Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research - UFZ,
Department System
Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
Institute of Chemistry, Academy
of Sciences, Dept. Physical and
Chemical Methods of Research
and Analyze, Republic of
Moldova
2
1
Deltares, Delft, The Netherlands
VU University, Institute for
Environmental Studies,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2
59
97
98
List of Posters
No.
37
Authors
A. Zabeo1*, S. Gottardo1,2, E.
Semenzin1, J. Rizzi2, A. Critto1,2,
S. Giove3, A. Marcomini1,2
Institutions
Consorzio Venezia Ricerche,
Marghera-Venezia, Italy
2
University Ca’ Foscari of
Venice, Department of
Environmental Sciences, Venice,
Italy
3
University Ca’ Foscari of
Venice, Department of Applied
Mathematics, Venice, Italy
1
60
Country
Italy
E-mail
alex.zabeo@
dsi.unive.it
Abstract title
The MODELKEY DSS:
A decision support system for
implementing the WFD
Page
99
Poster Abstracts
Poster Abstracts
61
Poster Abstracts
EC FP 6 REP - LECOTOX PROJECT
EC FP - facilitated success story how LECOTOX became visible on scientific map
of Europe
Radmila Kovacevic, Ivana Teodorovic*, Sonja Kaisarevic, Svetlana Fa,
Kristina Pogrmic, Ivana Planojevic & Vanja Dakic
University of Novi Sad Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology and Ecology, LECOTOX - Laboratory for
Ecotoxicology, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 2, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
For sure, there is more to ecotoxicology than emerging substances - for example, emerging
laboratories. LECOTOX - Laboratory for Ecotoxicology at the Faculty of Sciences,
University of Novi Sad, though formally established only in 2006, forms a functional
competitive research team ready for application of genomics based tools in ecotoxicology,
together with conventional toxicity tests and traditional function-based biomarkers, which
may be used to validate the toxic mechanisms of the contaminants. LECOTOX is focused on
two topics: (a) endocrine disruption / reproductive toxicity and (b) identification and
characterization of aquatic toxicity.
REP-LECOTOX project - INCO-CT-2006-043559-REP-LECOTOX UNSFS - Reinforcement
of research potential of the laboratory for ecotoxicology funded by EC FP6 (2007-2009)
presented a crucial milestone for LECOTOX and its visibility and presentation to
international scientific community. The project enabled upgrading and renewal of S&T
equipment, hiring new young researches to reinforce the human resources, but above all that,
it facilitated extensive networking - via workshops, exchange of scientific personnel and the
training of young scientists in some of the finest research institutions in EU in the field of
environmental research: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig,
Germany; School of Bioscience, University of Birmingham, UK and RECETOX, Masaryk
University, Brno, Czech Republic. Literally, REP LECOTOX project facilitated positioning
of LECOTOX on Europe’s map of emerging groups and laboratories, and our integration into
the European research area as a promising partner in fundamental and applied research
projects.
62
Poster Abstracts
Proteome analysis on synchronized cultures of Scenedesmus vacuolatus
Karen Hanisch*, Ulrike Gündel, Eberhard Küster, Rolf Altenburger &
Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Dept. Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Permoserstr. 15,
04318 Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Chlorophytes are important model organisms in stress physiology. Proteome investigations
have shown to be a promising tool to elucidate mechanisms of adverse biological effects.
Therefore we established proteomics for synchronized cultures of S. vacuolatus.
First, we developed a protocol for the characterization of the protein pattern within the 24
hours cell cycle of the synchronized green alga S. vacuolatus. The proteins were separated by
2-DE and differentially regulated proteins were identified by MS-MS. Overall 450 proteins
could be detected by 2-DE and were used for pattern comparison via multivariate pattern
analysis (PCA) and univariate spot to spot analysis (student’s t test).
Within the 24 h cell cycle a clear difference between the developmental stages could be
distinguished. Certain proteins changed time dependently in expression within different
phases of the cell cycle: From hour t0 to t10 proteins involved in the Calvin cycle (e.g.
SBPase) & energy metabolism (e.g. OEE protein 1 of PS II) were up-regulated. The ATP
dependent Clp protease was down-regulated over the same period.
Second, the method was applied for analysing toxic stress by using the phytotoxicant N
phenyl-ß-naphthylamine (PNA). We detected significant concentration dependent changes in
the protein pattern after exposure to PNA (≥ 0.46 µmol l-1). Typical stress proteins were
altered in expression after PNA exposure (RuBisCo, GAPDH & HSP).
The results show the potential of proteome analysis in synchronized cultures of S. vacuolatus
for analyzing stress responses in unicellular green algae.
KEYWORDS: proteomics, cell cycle, 2DE, green alga
63
Poster Abstracts
Response of macrobenthic and meiobenthic communities to waste water inflow
along a heavily polluted river in central Europe (River Bilina, Czech Republic)
Claus Orendt1*, Georg Wolfram2, Sebastian Höss3, Walter Traunspurger4,
Zdenek Adámek5, Pavel Jurajda5, Georg Streck6, Peter von der Ohe6
1
Orendt-Hydrobiologie, Brandvorwerkstr. 66, 04275 Leipzig, Germany, www.hydro-bio.de
DWS Hydroökologie, Zentagasse 47, 1050 Vienna, Austria
3
Ecossa, Giselastr. 6, 82319 Starnberg, Germany
4
University of Bielefeld, Animal Ecology, Morgenbreede 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
5
Dept. of Fish Ecology, Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 60365
Brno, Kvetna 8, Czech Republic
6
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
The River Bílina is situated in the north-western part of the Czech Republic, tributes to the
River Elbe and is considered as the most polluted stream in the country. The pollution derives
from both urban waste waters and industrial activities in the catchment. In order to find
indicators for certain stressors (hydromorpholgy, organic waste, toxic and geochemical
compounds) and discern between their explaining contributions for the ecological status of the
river, a multi disciplinary study was performed in 2006-2008. Here, the main results are
presented for the aquatic invertebrate fauna. From 466 macroinvertbrate and 48 nematode
taxa identified, two reference sites and eight impacted sites were investigated along a stretch
of ten river stations applying a wide range of metrics including also ecotoxicological indices
as e.g. SPEAR and the Maturity Index. As a general result, the „reference sites“ were not
completely free of pollution, however an obvious drop of the quality and community
parameters was discernible after the inflow of the pollutants. Downstream of the impacted
sites, a recovery was observed, however, not reaching the same community as at the reference
sites. The taxonomical and ecological differences between the refernce sites, impacted sites
and all other decreased, when pollution is reduced, which was observed in the last sampling
campaign.
64
Poster Abstracts
Do prometryn exposure and salt stress have interactive effects on algal
communities?
Stefanie Rotter1, Rolf Altenburger1, Georg Streck2, Werner Brack2 &
Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen1
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Permoserstr.
15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
2
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of of Effect-Directed Analysis, Permoserstr.
15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Field studies provide realistic and mainly ecological relevant information. But with the
increase of anthropogenic stressors pollution of aquatic ecosystems is mostly characterized by
multiple stress situations. Therefore, in field studies uncertainties are obvious and impact on
the organisms and whole communities a hard to interpret, due to the combined effects of
stressors. Microcosm studies conducted under controlled exposure conditions might clarify
some of these uncertainties, by using single stressors and the combination of these stressors in
parallel experiments. In this study the effect of high salt concentrations (resulting in an
increase of conductivity) and prometryn exposure (15 µg/L) on periphyton was analysed
independently, both in combination and in comparison to untreated control communities.
Sensitivity development of the community was determined over a period of 6 weeks in short
term tests by measuring the inhibition of photosynthesis. Furthermore structural parameters
like algal class composition and pigments were detected.
Community exposed to prometryn as single stressor and in combination with increased salt
concentrations, showed higher community tolerance than control communities, known as
pollution-induced community tolerance. Nevertheless community effects due to prometryn
and salt exposure alone do not allow predictions for the combined effect. Community
sensitivity decreased with increasing salt concentrations and prometryn exposure in the same
time.
65
Poster Abstracts
Strategies for identification of unknown compounds from EDA studies, using an
Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometer
Rikke Brix1,*, Ronald de Boer2, Gerard Stroomberg2, Jan Balaam3, Jana Weiss4,
Marja Lamoree5, Pim Leonards5, Maria J. Lopez de Alda1 & Damià Barceló1,6
1
IIQAB-CSIC, Department of Environmental Chemistry, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Rijkswaterstaat Waterdienst, Department of Monitoring & Laboratorium, Postbus 17, 8200 AA Lelystad, The
Nederlands
3
Cefas, Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0HT, UK
4
JRC, Rural, Water and Ecosystem Resources Unit Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via E. Fermi
2749, I-21027 Ispra, Italy
5
Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), VUA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
6
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Carrer Emili Grahit 101, Edifici H20, Parc Científic i Tecnològic
de la Universitat de Girona, Spain
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
Within the field of environmental chemistry there is a growing interest in determining causeeffect relationships for the detrimental effects that we are observing. One way of advancing
towards this goal is using Effect Directed Analysis (EDA). EDA is a process, where
biological assays and fractionation of the sample could lead to the identification of previously
unclassified toxicants and possible synergistic/antagonistic effects from the combination of
known and unknown compounds.
Within the last decade liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry
(LC-MS) with the ability to perform mass scans with high sensitivity has become accessible.
This has led to the possibility of performing non-targeted screening of a wide spectrum of
compounds, including polar and thermo-labile. However, because this is a novel field and due
to the different ionisation patterns from different interfaces, there is so far no large
commercial libraries available and it is up to the individual researcher to deal with the vast
amount of data generated from non-target screening using LC-MS.
With this poster, we would like to show a comparison of three different approaches to dealing
with the vast amount of data generated by non-target screening using high resolution mass
spectrometry. We will evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of three common
approaches using fractions from EDA studies with estrogenicity and androgenicity as
endpoints. The first approach is derived from metabolomics, where it is common practice to
have treated and untreated samples. A statistical comparison of chromatograms from the two
types of samples highlights differences and should thus reduce the chromatographic output to
only relevant information. It is possible to mimic this methodology using active and nonactive fractions from EDA studies. However, using this tactic, there is a risk of loosing
important information in the statistical treatment of the data.
The second approach is performing a pseudo target screening based on previous knowledge of
causative compounds along with their exact mass and possible retention time or fragmentation
pattern. This methodology does not necessitate the use of standards, nor is there a need for
complete chromatographic separation for the initial screening, which makes it possible to
extend the library beyond the performance of most analytical methods. This approach allows
us estimate to what extend our observed effect can be explained by already known key
toxicants.
The third approach is identification of local maxima in the chromatograms of active fractions.
This is performed initially with the naked eye and then using software with peak-recognition
algorithms to highlight peaks which are being masked by other peaks or the background
signal. This approach has the benefit of not excluding any peaks in the first steps. On the other
66
Poster Abstracts
hand, there is the risk of missing important low-intensity peaks, either because they are
masked or in the further evaluation of significant peaks.
67
Poster Abstracts
Mutagenic compounds in the River Elbe
Christine Gallampois1,*, Mahmoud Bataineh1, Pavel Jurajda2, Ivonne Löffler1, Angela
Sperreuter1, Georg Streck1 & Werner Brack1
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Effect-Directed Analysis, Permoserstr. 15,
04318 Leipzig, Germany
2
Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences, Kvetna 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Wastewater effluents, groundwater and surface waters are often contaminated by complex
mixtures of toxicants [1,2]. Among the compounds found in these samples, several have been
reported as mutagens, which are mainly polyaromatic compounds with at least three fused
rings [3]. Generally, analysing these compounds requires large volumes of sampled water
because of their low concentrations [4,5]. Blue Rayon (BR) is a passive sampler which is able
to specifically adsorb polyaromatic compounds within a 24 hour exposure time [4]. Thus, BR
allows sampling with a small quantity of adsorbent rather than large volumes of water [7],
using a simple and qualitative technique [6]. The aim of the study is to identify chemicals that
are responsible for mutagenicity by using the effect-directed-analysis (EDA) approach on the
samples obtained by BR. This is done by sequential reduction of the complexity of
environmental mixtures eventually to individual toxicants associated with bioassays, which
are used to select the active fractions [2].
Ten bags of BR (10 g per bag) were attached to a floating board and hung in the river for 24
hours according to the method described previously by Sakamoto and Hayatsu [8]. The
sampling site was located on the River Elbe in Czech Republic (Pardubice), downstream of
discharges from dye industries. The Ames fluctuation assay (Ames II test), as described by
Perez et al. [9], with slight variations was used to screen samples for mutagenic compounds.
Samples were tested using tester strain TA98 with and without metabolic activation by S9
mix. Compounds are firstly separated in three fractions according to their behaviour in water
(basic, acidic and neutral). Then the next fractionation steps rely on different columns; the
first one, a polymeric C18 column enables the separation regarding the log Kow, and the
second one, a phenyl-hexyl column enables the separation based on π-π electron interaction.
The analyses were performed using a LC/MS/MS high resolution (Agilent Rapid Resolution
LC coupled to a Thermo Fisher LTQ-Orbitrap).
KEYWORDS: Blue rayon/Blue cotton, mutagenicity, polycyclic compounds, EDA
[1] Kira S., Nogami Y., Ito T. and Hayatsu H., Environ. Toxicol. 14: 279-284, 1999
[2] Brack W., Anal. Bioanal. Chem, 377: 397-407, 2003
[3] Kira S., Horiguchi Y., Komatsu K., Fujisawa T., Ito and Hayatsu H., Bull. Environ. Toxicol. (1997) 59:941947
[4] Hayatsu H., Journal of Chromatography, 597 (1992) 37-56
[5] Fukazawa H., Matsushita H. and Terao Y., Mutation Research 491 (2001) 65-70
[6] Kira S., Nogami K., Taketa H. and Hayatsu H., Bull. Environ. Toxicol. (1996) 57:278-283
[7] Kira S., Ito T., Hayatsu H.,Zheng Y., Li R., Holliday L. and Giam C.S., Bull. Environ. Toxicol. (1994)
53:285-291
[8] Sakamoto H. and Hayatsu H., Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 44:521-528, 1990
[9] Pérez S, Reifferscheid G, Eichhorn P, Barcelò D., Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 22, 2576-2584,
2003
68
Poster Abstracts
Responses of various biomarkers in pale chub, Zacco platypus, exposed to metals
Woo-Keun Kim*, Jun-Wook Lee, Ji-Won Kim & Sung-Kyu Lee
Korea Institute of Toxicology, Ecotoxicology Research Team, Yuseong, Daejeon, Korea
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
The pollution of aquatic ecosystems by heavy metals such as copper and cadmium has
assumed serious proportion due to their toxicity and accumulation behavior. In the present
study, the effects of copper and cadmium on vaious biomarkers in the pale chub, Zacco
platypus, were evaluated. After 4 day of exposure, the changes of various biomarkers, that is,
biochemical levels such as metallothionein (MT), 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD),
DNA single-strand breaks (Comet), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and vitellogenin (VTG).
The standardized values of five biomarker responses were computed and integrated as star
plot, representing Integrate Biomarker Response (IBR) values. In copper exposure, DNA
damage and MT were induced in a concentration-dependent manner, and increased
significantly compared with those in the control. However, activities of other biomarkers
unchanged at all concentrations of copper. In cadmium exposure, a concentration-dependent
increase in the DNA damage and MT was observed at the highest concentration, whereas
other biomarkers were not altered by cadmium exposure. Star plot represented statistical
comparisons of the alterations among data sets obtained at biologically different responses.
Changes of the biomarker responses in the common carp exposed to copper and cadmium can
be used as monitoring data in aquatic ecosystems. In addition, star plots can be used as a
useful analysis tool in multi-biomarker integration approach.
69
Poster Abstracts
Toxicogenomic response of azinphos-methyl treated zebrafish embryos and
implication for the development of predictive models for chronic (fish) toxicity
Nils Klüver*, Katja Scheffler, Patrick Renner & Stefan Scholz
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Permoserstr.
15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
There is a high demand for reliable and ethically acceptable methods to asses the toxicity of
industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals and waste products – for the environmental as well as
human health risk assessment. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo test (DarT) is a highly
recognised model for studying chemical impacts. It is considered as a pain-free in vitro test
and therefore accepted as a replacement for animal experiments. However, the assay
predominantly relies on morphological endpoints, which may provide low sensitivity if
compared to effects observed during chronic exposures. We hypothesise that the zebrafish
embryo test can be used for the prediction of long-term effects of chemicals by analysing gene
expression changes. Toxicogenomic approaches would allow identifying responsive genes to
predict chronic fish toxicity. Here we used the zebrafish embryo to elucidate sublethal gene
expression changes provoked by exposure to azinphos-methyl (APM). APM is an
organophosphate that inhibits acetylcholinesterase. We performed microarray analysis and
validated the expression changes in a subset of genes by quantitative real-time PCR.
Interestingly three genes (hspb11, pdlim3b and socs3a) were similarly regulated by different
acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Their spatiotemporal expression pattern in exposed embryos
suggests a potential role in protecting the development of muscle precursor cells and/or
muscle organisation. Furthermore, the toxicity of APM increased in hspb11 antisense
morpholino injected embryos. This indicates a role for hspb11 in adaptation to chemical
exposure.
70
Poster Abstracts
The fish embryo test as an alternative to acute fish toxicity testing: Optimisation
for difficult compounds and role of metabolic activation
Stefan Scholz1,*, Melanie Knöbel1, Julia Ortmann1, Nils Klüver1, Frans Busser2, Nynke
Kramer2, Joop Hermens2, Katrin Tanneberger3, Kristin Schirmer3
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Permoserstr.
15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
2
Utrecht University, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry,
Utrecht, The Netherlands
3
EAWAG, Dept. of Environmental Toxicology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Registration of pesticides, biocides and chemicals requires the provision of acute fish toxicity
data. Due to ethical aspects and the costs associated with animal experiments, alternative test
methods are in high demand. The aim of the CEllSens project is to develop a strategy that
allows for the application of cell line assays and/or fish embryo tests to predict acute toxicity
to fish. On the basis of three data collections, a list of 60 model substances with different toxic
potencies, physicochemical properties and modes of action has been created (Schirmer et al.,
Aquatic. Tox. 2008, 90, 128-37). The aim of the presented sub-project is to measure zebrafish
embryo toxicity for this list of chemicals and to investigate the effect of exposure methods,
developmental stage and duration on the embryo toxicity. Existing embryo toxicity data and
20 compounds that have been additionally tested confirmed the strong correlation of the
zebrafish embryo test with the acute fish test. The embryo test was optimised for the analysis
of highly volatile compounds. Reduced toxicity due to evaporation losses could be further
corrected by measured exposure concentrations. However, we identified three outliers with
reduced sensitivity or no toxicity in the fish embryo. Gene expression of selected enzymes
and metabolic activation is currently studied to verify whether limited metabolic capacity of
the embryo is responsible for these outliers. We have also compared the toxicity in pre- and
post-hatched stages and included sublethal effects (malformation, gene expression) as
potential indicators for compounds with an enhanced chronic toxicity.
71
Poster Abstracts
Effect directed analysis as a tool for the identification of key toxicants in complex
mixtures, for example: Identification and confirmation of a phytotoxic phototransformation product of diclofenac
Tobias Schulze1,*, Sara Weiss1,3, Emma Schymanski1, Peter C. von der Ohe1,
Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen2, Rolf Altenburger2, Georg Streck1 & Werner Brack1
1
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Effect-Directed Analysis, Permoserstr. 15,
04318 Leipzig, Germany
2
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Permoserstr.
15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
3
Fraunhofer Institute of Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Department of Chemical Risk Assessment,
Nikolai-Fuchs-Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Effect-directed analysis (EDA) has proven to be a powerful tool for the identification of toxic
components of complex mixtures, combining bioassays with fractionation procedures and
chemical analysis. Whereas EDA directs to the tentatively identification of responsible
toxicants, confirmation in EDA helps to avoid artefacts and to establish reliable cause-effect
relationships. The confirmation step can be seen as a tiered approach: firstly, chemical
confirmation aims to confirm the tentatively identified compounds in toxic fractions;
secondly, effect confirmation provides quantitative information on the toxic response
contribution of identified toxic compounds to the measured effect of the mixture; thirdly,
hazard confirmation provides evidence on cause-effect-relationships on population and
communities at realistic exposure conditions. In this contribution we discuss the EDA and the
chemical and effect confirmation in EDA together with a basic risk estimate to assess the
potential environmental risk of a photo-transformation product of diclofenac (DCF). Phototransformation was found to be the most important transformation pathway of DCF in surface
waters leading to a transformation of up to 90% of the DCF within a few hours. Phototransformed DCF was reported to be five times more toxic to green algae Scenedesmus
vacuolatus compared to the parent compound. In this study we identified 2-[2(chlorophenyl)amino]benzaldehyde (CPAB) as a transformation product with enhanced
toxicity to Scenedesmus vacuolatus using structure elucidation applying state-of-the-art
computer tools. The EC50 of CPAB (4.8 mg/L) was a factor of 10 lower than that for DCF
(48.1 mg/L). Effect confirmation was performed on the basis of different effect levels
applying the ICQ approach indicating that the identified toxicant was responsible for the
observed effects. A risk estimation compares acute and chronic toxicity of DCF and its
transformation product with predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) based on the
European Medicines Agency (EMEA) guideline and measured environmental concentrations
of DCF (MEC) resulting in PEC/PNEC and MEC/PNEC values greater than one and thus
indicating a potential risk to aquatic species.
72
Poster Abstracts
Sample preparation method of biota samples for application in Effect Directed
Analysis
Eszter Simon1,*, Timo Hamers1, Jan Balaam2, Marja Lamoree1, Jacob de Boer1 &
Pim Leonards1
1
VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2
CEFAS Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0HT, United Kingdom
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
The combination of Dialysis, Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) and Normal-Phase
Liquid Chromatography (NP-HPLC) is a sample preparation method that was developed for
cleanup of biological materials and removal of co-extracted lipids and natural hormones from
the cleaned extracts. Recoveries of 13 toxic compounds differing largely in their
physicochemical properties from spiked fish tissues were determined after the whole cleanup
by gas chromatography. Nine of the thirteen spiked compounds had a recovery between 62
and 101 %. Compounds that are more suitable for LC-MS analysis (tamoxifen,
dihydrotestosterone, estrone) or that elute later from the GPC column than the collected
fraction (e.g., 3,4,5-trichlorophenol) had a recovery below 59 %. All the extracts were tested
for thyroid hormone like activity in the radioligand T4-TTR binding assay and for (anti)androgenic activity in the AR-CALUX® reporter gene assay. The sample preparation
method showed good agreement between experimentally measured biological activities and
the expected activities calculated from the spiking levels. The influence of possibly remaining
small lipids after the cleanup is observed to be negligible when extracts are diluted in the
bioassays. Using NP-HPLC fractionation, the natural hormones present in biota could be
separated from the non-endogenous spiked compounds, as was shown by their elution profiles
(e.g. androgens, estrogens, thyroid hormones).
The evaluated clean up method proved to be capable of bulk lipid removal from fish extracts,
enabling the application of T4-TTR and AR-CALUX® bioassays in Effect Eirected Analysis
(EDA).
KEYWORDS: Effect Directed Analysis (EDA), Biota, Cleanup, Bioassays
73
Poster Abstracts
Uptake and effects of 1,2,3,5,7-pentachloronaphthalene in an aquatic food chain:
From sediment via benthic organisms (Lumbriculus variegatus)
to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
Tineke Slootweg1,*, Milena Dömötörová2, Anna Fabišiková2, Elizaveta Igumnova3,
Anton Kocan2, Philipp Mayer4, Anja Moeller5, Vladimir Nikforov3, Jürgen Schmidt1,
Kilian Smith4, Markus Liebig1
1
ECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH, Böttgerstraße 2-14, 65439 Flörsheim, Germany
Slovak Medical University, Department of Toxic Organic Pollutants, Limbova 12, 833 03 Bratislava, Slovakia
3
Saint-Petersburg State University, 198504 St.Petersburg, Universitetskii pr., 26, Russia
4
National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, Department of Environmental Chemistry and
Microbiology, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark
5
University of Berne, Laenggass-Straße 122, 3012 Berne, Switzerland
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) are a group of hydrophobic pollutants, which are
persistent and widely distributed in the environment. Partners from the EU-project
MODELKEY (UFZ, Leipzig, Germany) recently measured PCNs in concentrations up to 13
µg/kg dw in Elbe River sediments, where these compounds significantly contributed to the
total AhR-mediated activity of extracts from sediment samples. Although PCNs are a relevant
group of environmental pollutants, literature on accumulation of and effects caused by PCNs
in aquatic ecosystems is sparsely available. In this study we therefore investigated the uptake
and effects of 1,2,3,5,7-pentachloronaphthalene (PeCN52) in a simplified aquatic food chain
consisting of three compartments: sediment - benthic worms (Lumbriculus variegatus) rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).
At first a bioaccumulation study was performed in which worms were exposed for 28 days to
sediment spiked with PeCN52 (0.3 µg/kg dw). The resulting bioaccumulation factor of 35.3
(dw/dw) demonstrated that worms, by serving as food source, can transfer PeCN52 from
sediment to higher trophic levels.
In order to study the transfer of PeCN52 from worms to fish, and to evaluate if this transfer
might cause effects on fish, a food chain study was performed in which juvenile trout were
exposed to live contaminated worms. For the production of contaminated worms they were
exposed for 168 h in medium with the maximum soluble concentration of PeCN52. The
concentration in the medium was kept constant by passive dosing from a silicone elastomer
(polydimethylsiloxane) that was casted into the bottom of the test vessel and saturated with
PeCN52. Using this method it was possible to produce a large amount of worms with a
constant burden of PeCN52.
Trout were held individually and fed daily with worms over 28 d. Four nominal concentration
levels (0 - 25 - 50 and 100 µg PeCN52/g food) were tested, each containing 10 replicates.
Mortality and behaviour were observed daily and growth of the trout was measured after 14
and 28 days. For each of these parameters no significant differences were found between the
concentration levels.
Evaluation of effects of PeCN52 on molecular biomarkers (expression of P-glycoprotein and
CYP1A) is still ongoing. Furthermore, the internal PeCN52 concentrations in worms, fish and
faeces of fish are going to be measured to provide the link between PeCN52 uptake in fish
and possible sublethal effects on molecular biomarkers.
74
Poster Abstracts
Neozoan invertebrates in the Czech part of the Labe River Basin
Jan Spacek* & Pavel Hajek
Povodi Labe, State Enterprise,Vita Nejedleho 951, Hradec Kralove, 503 41, Czech Republic
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
From year to year the problem of the appearance of neozoan animal species is more serious.
The field of waters is not an exception. This presentation brings information about the
appearance of derivative species in the Czech part of Labe River basin. The results were
divided into two parts. The first part comes from the monitoring carried out by the employees
of the state enterprise Povodí Labe in the years 2004 - 2008. The other part consists of the
current literary data and expert knowledge.
List of species
General information about the below mentioned species, bionomics, type of distribution and
place of origin are summarized in the publication: Mlikovsky J. a Styblo P. (eds.) 2006:
Neozoan species of fauna and flora in the Czech Republic.
Part 1:
Caspiobdella fadejewi (Epshtein, 1961
Corbicula fluminea (O.F.Muller, 1774)
Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771)
Ferrissia clessiniana (Jickeli, 1882)
Menetus dilatatus (Gould, 1841)
Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gray, 1843)
Physella acuta (Draparnaud, 1805)
Dugesia tigrina (Girard, 1850)
Atyaephyra desmarestii (Millet, 1831)
Dikerogammarus villosus (Sowinsky, 1894)
Gammarus roeselii (Gervais, 1835)
Hemimysis anomala (Sars, 1907)
Jaera istri (Veuille, 1979)
Orconectes limosus (Rafinesque, 1817).
Proasellus coxalis (Dollfus, 1892)
Pectinatella magnifica (Leidy,1851)
Leuctra geniculata (Stephens, 1836)
Part 2:
Craspedacusta sowerbii (Lankester, 1880)
Gyraulus parvus (Say, 1817)
Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea, 1834)
Astacus leptodactylus Eschscholtz, 1823
Eriocheir sinensis (H.Milne-Edwards, 1854)
Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana, 1852)
Conclusion
In the years 2004 - 2008 23 neozoan species of aquatic invertebrates were monitored in the
area of Labe river basin, especially molluscs and Crustaceans. 15 species appear regularly or
in a wholesale. With regard to the historical data and the character of habitat of the Proasellus
coxalis current appearance, we doubt the originality of this species in the Central Europe.
75
Poster Abstracts
Sediment contamination and natural characteristics explaining the effects in
toxicity tests with six species
Anita I. Tuikka1,*, Claudia Schmitt2, Sebastian Höss3, Nicole Bandow4,
Peter C. von der Ohe4, Dick de Zwart5, Werner Brack4, Arto J. Sormunen1,
Jussi V.K. Kukkonen1
1
University of Joensuu, Faculty of Biosciences, Yliopistokatu 7, 80101 Joensuu, Finland
University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
3
Ecossa, Giselastr. 6, 82319 Starnberg, Germany
4
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
5
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
Toxicity of four contaminated sediments and theirs references from three European rivers
were studied with six different bioassays. Whole sediment toxicity assays were executed in
laboratory conditions with mudsnail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum), nematode
(Caenorhabditis elegans), midge (Chironomus riparius), worm (Lumbriculus variegatus),
zebra fish embryo (Danio rerio), and luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri). Biotests showed
that contaminated sediments were in general more toxic to organisms than their reference
sediments. However, different test species showed a specific sensitivity. To measure whether
the effects were caused by contaminants in the sediments or sediment natural characteristics
or both, the correlations between effects and sediment characteristics or mixture toxicity
measures (toxic unit (TU) and multi substance affected fraction of species (msPAF) values)
were done. The msPAF and TU based toxicity estimations predicted toxicity risk to all
sediments partly having different emphasis than the biotests. All of the measured toxic effects
were not possible to explain by pollutants. However, TU estimations correlated to toxic effect
on L. variegatus indicating the pollutants causing the effects. On the other hand, the sediment
particle size turned out to mask the possible effects of contaminants to C. riparius.
76
Poster Abstracts
Impacts of industrial and agricultural activities on the water quality of major
river Morava (Zlín region, Czech Republic) - detailed characterization of
temporal and spatial variability
Bláha L.1,*, Hilscherová K.1, Macíková P.1, Jálová V.1, Giesy J.2, Klánová J.1,
Holoubek I.1
1
RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 3, CZ62500 Brno, Czech Republic
Aquatic Toxicology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
Combined use of chemical (analytical) and biological (ecotoxicological) approaches in the
environmental monitoring provides extensive information for the critical risk assessment.
Here we present results of our detailed study conducted at 5 localities on the major river
Morava and its tributary Dřevnice in the Zlín region, Czech Republic, which are affected by
different types of pollution (urban, heavy industry and agriculture). During a year-long study
(2007-2008, samplings every 28 days, 14 campaigns in total), we analyzed a series of samples
(spot water samples, passive samplers on the basis of silicon rubber, fresh material from the
sediment traps and bottom sediments) for the (i) the composition of water and sedimentary
material, (ii) contaminant levels (toxic metals, PAHs, organochlorine compounds), (iii) acute
toxicity (Vibrio fisheri test in two variants - contact solid phase toxicity vs. eluate), and (iv)
receptor-mediated effects determined with reporter luciferase gene assays for dioxin-like
toxicity (AhR-), anti/estrogenicity (ER-) and anti/androgenicity (AR-). Some of the findings
include apparent fluctuations in concentrations of organic contaminants like PAHs, which
reflect combustion processes (elevated during winter months) that were also accompanied by
higher dioxin-like activities and anti-estrogenicity. Freshly collected sedimentary material
contained systematically higher levels of contaminants in comparison to corresponding
bottom sediments, and was significantly more toxic in both acute toxicity tests and in vitro
assays. Other outcomes of our study, i.e characterization of relationships among sediment
composition and toxicity or between passive samplers and water spot samples will be
discussed as well. Our study established a set of solid region-specific ranges in the values of
studied parameters (both seasonal and spatial), which form a basic set for the rational
probabilistic environmental risk assessment.
77
Poster Abstracts
Population level integration of individual effect measurements for in situ water
quality assessment: a modelling approach with Gammarus fossarum (Crustacean)
and Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gastropod)
Chaumot A.1,*, Geffard O.1, Coulaud R.1, Adam O.1, Quéau H.1, Charles S.2, Garric J.1
1
Cemagref, MALY, Laboratoire d’écotoxicologie, Lyon, France
Université Lyon 1, Laboratoire de biométrie et biologie évolutive UMR 5558, Villeurbanne, France
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
Multilevel biomarker studies are now a classical approach for the monitoring of contaminated
environments. Nevertheless, even if the population constitutes a level of interest for
environmental management, the characterization of in situ effects of contaminants at this level
reminds difficult notably because it also integrates plastic, adaptive and neutral variability
related to physical-chemical habitat or phylogeograhical constraints. In predictive approaches,
the experimental difficulty to assess impacts of chemical compounds at the population scale is
currently addressed by modelling techniques. With two environmental relevant species, we
develop this methodology in a diagnostic framework by coupling population modelling and in
situ caging. Hence, we expect to enhance the ecological relevance of in situ toxicity
assessment and to develop biologically integrated ecotoxicological indicators.
Our approach proceeds in two steps. (i) Population models are developed to mechanistically
link life history traits (survival, growth, reproductive activity, fecundity) and the dynamics of
reference native populations all along a year. For this, we use a dual approach combining
laboratory and field experiments. The latter consisting in a demographic follow-up based on
monthly population census (densities, size distributions) and an individual approach with field
organisms caged in situ (reproduction, growth, survival). (ii) Effects of contamination,
observed at the organism level through the exposure of transplanted individuals caged in
contaminated stations, are projected into the dynamics of these reference populations in order
to propose a diagnostic assessment of water quality at the population level.
78
Poster Abstracts
Risk for erosion of contaminated sediments
Eric de Deckere*, Claudia Schmitt & Tom van der Spiet
University of Antwerp, Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk,
Belgium
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Sediments in river basins are exposed constantly to a shear stress due to currents and waves.
Depending on the shear strength of the sediment bed sediments will be eroded and transported
downstream, which means that also contaminated sediments might be spread to downstream
parts of the catchment. Several devices have been developed to measure the shear strength of
the sediment bed, however none of them can be used so far to measure in-situ shear strength
at a high number of locations in a short time period. Therefore we sampled sediments (n=3)
from 39 locations in Elbe (20), Llobregat (7) and Scheldt (12). The sediments were stored in
boxes for several weeks and subsequently the susceptibility for erosion was measured with a
Cohesive Strength Meter (CSM). The results show that sediments in the Llobregat and in the
Bilina, a subcatchment of the Elbe, will erode very fast, while in the Scheldt and in the rest of
the Elbe there is a high variation. Highest stabilities were found in sediments from Magdeburg
and Schonebeck in the Elbe itself, from Halle Trotha in the Saale and from Eenhoorn in Het
Schijn in the Scheldt catchment. The risk for erosion increases overall also with increasing
percentage of silt, which means that highly contaminated sediments, which is often the finer
fraction, have a higher risk of being transported downstream in the river catchment.
79
Poster Abstracts
The “S-WISS1” 2-tiered approach for in situ assessment of metal bioavailability
and effects: response to a challenge for testing non-disturbed sediment in deep
water
Benoît J.D. Ferrari1,*, Davide A.L. Vignati2, Jean-Louis Roulier1 & Janusz Dominik3
1
CEMAGREF, UR MALY, 69336 Lyon cedex 09, France
CNR-IRSA, Via della Mornera 25, 20047 Brugherio, Italy
3
Institut F.-A. Forel, University of Geneva, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
Reliable in situ integrated testing strategies coupling geochemistry and biology are necessary
to improve metal risk assessment in sediments. While broadly implemented in aquatic
ecosystems at shallow depths, such approaches are not readily set up for working in deep
waters (e.g. lakes, reservoirs). In this study, we developed the 2-tiered approach “S-WISS1” –
Sediment-Water Interface Study System (version 1) – specifically designed to assess nondisturbed sediments in deep waters and we assayed it at two polluted sites (until 18-m depth).
The first tier estimates metal uptake rate constants for fourth instar Chironomus riparius
larvae after 2-d exposure without food addition. The second tier assesses the kinetic of metal
accumulation in fourth instar C. riparius larvae and their effect on growth during 4 days with
daily food addition. The system consists in an array of tubes inserted into sediment and
capped with a device allowing introduction of laboratory-reared C. riparius and (when
desired) daily addition of food to the sediment surface. Its configuration permits to
simultaneously perform complementary measurements such as metal partitioning in sediments
and overlying water, in situ DGT measurements in sediment, length and body residues
analysis of exposed organisms. Results show that S-WISS1 is a good approach for improved
characterization of the metal bioavailability and effects for sediment-dwelling organisms in
deep waters.
KEYWORDS: in-situ testing, bioaccumulation, growth, chironomids
80
Poster Abstracts
In situ bio-monitoring of water quality: multi-scale effect assessment in
Gammarus fossarum
Geffard O.1,*, Chaumot A.1, Xuereb B.1, Lacaze E.1, Geffard A.2, Quéau H.1, Mons R.1,
Noury P.1, Devaux A.4, Bezin L.3, Garric J.1
1
Cemagref, MALY, Laboratoire d’écotoxicologie, , 69336 Lyon cedex 09, France
EA 2069 URVVC-SE, Laboratoire d’Eco-Toxicologie, UFR Sciences, Moulin de la Housse, BP 1039, 51687
Reims Cedex 2, France
3
Laboratoire de physiologie intégrative cellulaire et moléculaire, UMR 5123, Université de Lyon I, 69622
Villeurbanne, France
4
INRA- LSE, rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-velin Cedex, France
*corresponding author: [email protected]
2
One of the fundamental aims of ecotoxicology is to establish the biological quality of hydrosystems and particularly to provide information on; 1 - how pollutants affect organisms (mode
of action) and 2 - what is the impact of these pollutants at relevant biological levels, .e.g. the
population. Under laboratory and field conditions, population level could not be easily used to
establish a direct relationship between the contamination level and the toxicity. One of the
most relevant approaches is the use and the integration of individual responses (survival,
growth, development and reproduction) within population modelling (see poster of Chaumot
et al.), however this approach involves that robust and reliable in situ bio-assays are available.
Nevertheless, interpretation of markers (sub-individual and individual) used within in situ
experiment is confronted with the absence of controls, consequently this methodology is
currently used to punctual comparison between assumed reference and impacted sites. The
knowledge of natural variability of biomarkers and biological traits is now needed to increase
the accuracy and relevance of these approaches.
We develop a multi-scale approach in the widespread species Gammarus fossarum, in order
to develop biomarkers (AChE, Vtg and Comet assay) and biological traits (survival, feeding
rate, growth and reproduction) measurements in relation to fitness of organisms and the
population dynamics of this species. The main aim of this poster is to present our demarche
and research activities for these purposes and two examples where this multi-scale approach
has been used to assess the impact of a waste water treatment plant effluent and a former PbZn mine on the biological quality of Ardières and Amous rivers respectively.
81
Poster Abstracts
In situ biomonitoring of freshwater quality using the gastropod Potamopyrgus
antipodarum
Gust M.*, Buronfosse T., Mons R., H. Queau, Geffard O., Garric J.
Cemagref, UR MALY, Laboratoire d’écotoxicologie, 3bis quai Chauveau CP 220, 69336 Lyon cedex 09, France
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
The New Zealand mudsnail, P. antipodarum (Molluska, Hydrobiidae, Smith 1889) is a
promising laboratory species often used to assess the effects of reprotoxic compounds
(Matthiessen 2008). However, it has seldom been used in field experiments to assess the
effects of a point source pollution, and this species could be complementary to those usually
exposed in field experiments in our laboratory (Gammaridae). The use of species belonging to
different phyla can help to enhance our capacity to properly measure the impact of chemical
in field. Thus, we developed a caging experiment design, which enabled us to expose the
mudsnail in various aquatic ecosystems (flow, temperature, conductivity…) and toxic
pressures: waste water treatment plant effluent discharge, pesticides, cadmium. We present
here the results of three different exposures. We have implemented caged P. antipodarum
using selected (origin, size) organisms to measure the effects of point source pollution on life
traits as survival, juvenile growth, adult reproduction (number of embryos in the brood
pouch), useful for dynamic population assessment currently in process. Biomarkers,
(vertebrate-like steroid levels) have been measured as well. Adults and juveniles gastropods
were simultaneously exposed during three or four weeks depending on the site.
Although the physico-chemical and hydrological parameters varied between the rivers, no
adult mortality was observed and the caging experiments allowed us to detect a significant
variations of reproduction, growth and steroid levels. From our results, the suitability of the
used methodology to assess field impact of point source pollution is discussed.
82
Poster Abstracts
Nematode communities in river sediments of three different European river
basins - Effects of anthropogenic contamination
Sebastian Höss1,*, Walter Traunspurger2, Claus Orendt3, Georg Wolfram4,
Zdenek Adamek5, Isabel Muñoz6, Chris van Liefferinge7, Eric de Deckere7
1
Ecossa, Giselastr. 6, 82319 Starnberg, Germany
University of Bielefeld, Dept. of Animal Ecology, Morgenbreede 45, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
3
Orendt-Hydrobiologie, Arndtstr. 63, 04275 Leipzig
4
DWS Hydro-Ökologie GmbH, Zentagasse 47, 1050 Vienna, Austria
5
Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Dept. of Fish Ecology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 60365
Brno, Kvetna 8, Czech Republic
6
University of Barcelona, Department of Ecology, Av. Diagonal, 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
7
University of Antwerp, Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610
Wilrijk, Belgium
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
The effect of anthropogenic contamination on the nematode community was investigated in
three different European river basins, Elbe (Czech Republic), Scheldt (Belgium), and
Llobregat (Spain). Both the in situ nematode community structure and the toxicity in a whole
sediment toxicity test with the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans were analysed. For each
river basin, one reference site was compared with one (Elbe, Scheldt) or two (Llobregat)
polluted sites. Using multidimensional scaling ordination (MDS), nematode genus
composition of each polluted site could clearly be distinguished from the respective reference
site. For the Scheldt and the Llobregat basin, also the composition of different life history
strategists (Maturity Index; MI) and feeding types differed between the polluted and reference
site, with higher proportions of omnivorous nematodes and a higher MI in the polluted sites.
The toxicity test with C. elegans showed clear toxic effects in the polluted site from the
Scheldt basin, indicating that also the observed differences in community structure were
caused by pollution.
83
Poster Abstracts
Numerical modelling of flood induced contaminated sediment mobilization and
its uncertainty due to spatial variability
Thomas Jancke1,*, Martina Baborowski2, Peter Morgenstern3, Sven Wurms1 &
Bernhard Westrich1
1
University of Stuttgart, Institute of Hydraulic Engineering (IWS), Stuttgart, Germany
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Dept. River Ecology, Germany
3
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Dept. Analytical Chemistry, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
The erosion threshold of cohesive riverine sediments is an important factor when considering
scouring and reservoir siltation, and is often crucial when the remobilisation of sediment
bound pollutants which have been discharged untreated into rivers in the past comes into
question. The particle bound contaminants may have been transported over long distances and
deposited and accumulated over years in regions of low flow conditions – such as groyne
fields or reservoirs. These sediment depots can act as a potential source for pollutants during
erosive flood events. The flood events in the River Elbe in August 2002 and spring 2006 has
it illustrated drastically.
The critical erosion shear stress τcrit,e represents the properties of sediments and the resistance
force of the river bed and is therefore one of the most important factors describing the
remobilization risk of contaminated sediments. τcrit,e must be determined in the field and at
present no general formula describing the erosion threshold of cohesive sediments exists. This
is due to the complex interaction of physical, chemical and biological sediment properties and
their high spatial variability.
In order to quantify both the eroded mass of pollutants and the uncertainties associated with
sediment erosion, an approach was established which combines both field data with modelling
results.
In the groyne field Fahlberg-List (Middle Elbe) undisturbed sediment cores (10 cm diameter)
were withdrawn and vertical profiles of the critical erosion shear stress (τcrit,e), sediment bulk
density, water content and pollutant concentrations have been determined. Heavy metals,
arsenic and silicate concentrations were measured applying the energy dispersive X-ray
fluorescence (EDXRF) method after freeze-drying the sediment samples. Numerical modeling
of the flow field within the investigated groyne field was done. Statistical methods will be
applied to interpolate between the point measurements in order to gain an idea about the
spatial distribution of the measured sediment parameters. Linking the results of numerical
modeling and interpolation allows for the quantification of the potential erodible contaminant
mass for a given discharge.
Two parallel sediment cores have been taken at 14 locations within the groyne field, for a
total of 28 cores in the analysis. The determination of τcrit,e delivered a high spatial variability
of the sediment stability, varying from 0.3 up to 13.4 Pa. Chemical analysis revealed high
pollution values, concerning target values set by the European Commission and those of
international river basin communities alike. With the 2-d TELEMAC software, the Elbe flood
in 2006 was simulated and the actual bottom shear stress τ0 within the groyne field under
steady-state flow conditions was calculated. Together with the results of the pending
interpolation, the τ0 field will be used in a first step to calculate the eroded pollutant mass for
the flood event in 2006 and to disclose the uncertainties due to data variability. The approach
presented here represents a helpful tool for site specific risk assessment and sediment
management of fresh water systems
84
Poster Abstracts
Statistical methodology in identification and application of species traits in
risk assessment
J. Jarkovský*, K. Kubošová, K. Brabec, S. Zahrádková, J. Bojková, P. Bartůšek
Research Centre for Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Masaryk University, Kamenice 3, 634 00
Brno, Czech Republic
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
The necessary component of any ecological risk assessment based on biomonitoring is the
definition of susceptible organism reflecting changes in environmental conditions and
disturbance of the environment.
In the evaluation of ecological status of surface waters required by the WFD the suitable
monitoring network together with the correct selection of parameters including biological taxa
determines the correctness and financial effectiveness of the monitoring. The selected
biological endpoints have some prerequisites (common presence, consistent relationship to
environmental condition, and susceptibility to stressors) which can be validated by means of
statistical analysis of indicative power of taxa and their ecological traits together with expert
opinion.
The presented results are based on extensive databases of monitoring and biomonitoring data
of surface waters in the Czech Republic since 1996 and answer the following questions: 1)
What are valence characteristics of monitored taxa in undisturbed environment; 2) Ability of
taxa to reflect stressors in the environment; 3) Validation of „species traits“ characteristics
which are utilized in the systems of evaluation of ecological status.
The final results of the project are numerical evaluation of indicative power of monitored taxa
and identification of the most relevant taxa for routine monitoring, i.e. taxa with both
consistent relationship to abiotic characteristics unchangeable by human activities and
sensitive response to stressors in the environment.
85
Poster Abstracts
Comparative use of species- and family-level biomonitoring data for indication of
pesticide effects with SPEAR
Beketov M.A.*, Liess M.
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department System Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
To detect effects of pesticides on non-target freshwater organisms the Species at risk
(SPEARpesticides) bioindicator based on biological traits was previously developed and
successfully validated over different biogeographical regions of Europe using species-level
data on stream invertebrates. Since many fresh-water biomonitoring programmes have familylevel taxonomic resolution we tested the applicability of SPEARpesticides with family-level
biomonitoring data to indicate pesticide effects in streams (i.e. insecticide toxicity of
pesticides). The study showed that the explanatory power of the family-level
SPEAR(fm)pesticides is not significantly lower than the species-level index. The results suggest
that the family-level SPEAR(fm)pesticides is a sensitive, cost-effective, and potentially
European-wide bioindicator of pesticide contamination in flowing waters. Class boundaries
for SPEARpesticides according to EU Water Framework Directive are defined to contribute
to the assessment of ecological status of water bodies. Details can be found in Beketov et al.,
2009 (Environmental Pollution, 157, 1841-8).
86
Poster Abstracts
SPEARorganic - An indicator for effects of organic toxicants on lotic invertebrate
communities: Independence of confounding environmental factors over an
extensive river continuum
Beketov M.A.*, Liess M.
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department System Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Distinguishing between effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental factors on
ecosystems is a fundamental problem in environmental science. In river systems the
longitudinal gradient of environmental factors is one of the most relevant sources of
dissimilarity between communities that could be confounded with anthropogenic
disturbances. To test the hypothesis that in macroinvertebrate communities the distribution of
species’ sensitivity to organic toxicants is independent of natural longitudinal factors, but
depends on contamination with organic toxicants, we analysed the relationship between
community sensitivity SPEARorganic (average community sensitivity to organic toxicants) and
natural and anthropogenic environmental factors in a large-scale river system, from alpine
streams to a lowland river. The results show that SPEARorganic is largely independent of
natural longitudinal factors, but strongly dependent on contamination with organic toxicants
(petrochemicals and synthetic surfactants). Usage of SPEARorganic as a stressor-specific
longitude-independent measure will facilitate detection of community disturbance by organic
toxicants. For conservation of caddisflies, the SPEAR approach can be used to define
endangered species, which are vulnerable to contamination with organic toxicants. For details
see: Beketov and Liess, 2008, Environmental Pollution 156: 980-987.
87
Poster Abstracts
Variability of pesticide exposure in a stream mesocosm system: Macrophytedominated vs. non-vegetated sections
Beketov M.A.*, Liess M.
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department System Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
For flowing water bodies no information is available about patterns of contaminant
distribution in flowing water compared to macrophyte-dominated structures. The aim of the
present study was to examine temporal dynamic and spatial cross-channel variability of pulse
exposure of the insecticide thiacloprid in outdoor stream mesocosms. Two distinct crosschannel sections have been considered: macrophyte-dominated littoral and non-vegetated
midstream. Median disappearance time ranged from 17 to 43 h (water phase, midstream). We
showed that during the exposure pulse (10 h) thiacloprid concentrations in the macrophytedominated section were 20–60% lower than those in the non-vegetated section. This suggests
that spatial variability in contaminant concentrations, particularly in streams containing
macrophytes, should be taken into account to enable a more realistic assessment of (i)
exposure and associated effects and (ii) mass transport of pesticides and other chemicals into
river systems (e.g. losses with surface runoff). Details can be found in Beketov and Liess,
2009 (Environmental Pollution, 156, 1364-7).
88
Poster Abstracts
Life+ M3-Project: Evaluating WFD’s programs of measures with monitoring and
modeling tools
Gallé T.*, Huck V., Seiffert S., Wilkinson J.
CRTE/CRP Henri Tudor, 66, rue de Luxembourg, L-4221 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
The agenda of the European Water Framework Directive is currently at the definition of the
river basin management plans and the programs of measures to achieve good ecological status
in 2015. The decision process of which measures to take currently reveals the lacks in
understanding of catchment processes and the insufficient data basis to make a sound choice
of effective management operations.
The Life+-M3 project is a common project of CRP Henri Tudor (L), Erftverband (D) and
Delfland Waterboard (NL). It aims at improving the monitoring schemes for significant
determination of chemical and ecological status and to provide duly verified modeling tools.
It does so by analyzing the monitoring data situation in the 3 regions, by developing tailormade monitoring campaigns to evaluate specific measurement programs and by providing
best-practice demonstrations of emission and water quality models. The project has a
demonstration character and will carry out monitoring and modeling efforts in the 3 regions
whose evaluation will be available on the www.life-m3.eu website. Furthermore, 4 specific
workshops will be organized in the following years.
The poster contribution will provide first insights in data analysis approaches, monitoring
design and will announce the first workshop.
89
Poster Abstracts
Trait based approaches in biomonitoring
Liess M.*, Beketov M.A., Kattwinkel M., Schäfer R.
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department System Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Trait-based approaches are currently gaining ground in several scientific disciplines. We want
to identify in which way biomonitoring of toxicants can benefit from the current knowledge.
This is especially the identification of toxicant effect, the separation of different stressors,
large-scale cross-regional assessments and comparisons and function-related measurements
We will highlight the following aspects:
• Traits, why are we fascinated about them?
• Principles of designing trait-based indicators
• Examples of successfully using traits
• Limitations of trait-based approaches
• Concepts of applying trait-based approaches to environmental protection and nature
conservation
90
Poster Abstracts
Design and synthesis of the series of polyfluorophenylalkyl ethers – Performance
reference compounds for passive sampling devices
Vladimir Nikiforov*
St.Petersburg State University, Dept. of Chemistry, Universitetskii pr., 26, 198504, St.Petersburg, Russia
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
The goal of the work was to develop a series of reference compounds – “Hydrophobicity
Standard”, useful in Passive Sampling Devices as PRCs (Performance Reference
Compounds). The idea was to use fluorinated compounds, as F atom adds ca. 0.2 to Log KOW,
while C atom (as CH2-group) adds ca. 0.5.
A number of possibilities were considered, the selection criteria were:
1)
Required range of hydrophobicity (Log KOW 3-7)
2)
Required maximal logKow difference between congeners (<0.3)
3)
Presumed chemical stability (first of all, to hydrolysis)
4)
Possibility of development of a general method for all congeners
5)
Synthetic considerations: easiness, cleanliness of synthetic way, preferably onestep synthesis, availability of starting materials
6)
The compounds should not be present in the environment
A series of polyfluorophenylalkyl ethers (from difluoro- to pentafluorophenyl and from
propyl- to decyl) seemed to conform to the above mentioned criteria, with minimal estimated
Log KOW = 3.48 for 3,5-difluorophenylpropyl ether and maximal Log KOW = 7.44 for
pentafluorophenyldecyl ether.
Penta- and 2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenyl ethers were prepared by reaction of Hexa- or
pentafluorobenzene with corresponding alcohols in presence of potassium tert-butoxide in
sulfolan at ambient temperature, while preparation of 2,4,5-tri- and 3,5-difluorophenyl ethers
from 1,2,4,5-tetra- and 1,3,5-trifluorobenzenes, respectively required reaction at 100˚C in
sealed tubes.
Acknowledgement. This work was supported via EC FP6 integrated project MODELKEY,
contract no. 511237 GOCE (www.modelkey.org).
91
Poster Abstracts
Use of Hammett equation for estimation of environmental degradation rates:
Nucleophilic hydrolysis of chloro- and bromoaromatic POPs
Vladimir Nikiforov*, Innocenty Bazhenov, Leonid Lisitsyn
St.Petersburg State University, Dept. of Chemistry, Universitetskii pr., 26, 198504, St.Petersburg, Russia
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
The idea of the work was to test applicability of Hammett equation for prediction of
environmental degradation rates. Polychlorobenzenes(PCBz), polychlorobiphenyls(PCB),
polychlorodiphenylethers(PCDE) and Polychloronaphthalenes(PCN) are important classes of
persistent organic pollutants(POPs). Hydrolysis is considered as one of degradation pathways
for these compounds in the environment. Reactivity of different C-Cl bonds in PCBz, PCB,
PCDE and PCN were calculated using σ- constants. The overall reactivity parameter σ-s of
polychlorinated compounds was used in Hammett equation logkrel=ρσ-s. Satisfactory
correlation with literature data on reactivity of PBDE and PCBz towards MeONa in
MeOH/DMF(1:19) was obtained; ρ = 2.92, r = 0.93.
Among the studied compounds Octachloronaphthalene(OCN) was found to be the most
reactive. σ-s (α) = 2.24 σ-s (β) = 1.96. This gives estimation of k2 = 1.01 at reported
conditions . This is close to estimated value of 1.6 for 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB, σ-s =
2.54). Thus we can conclude that OCN and DNCB have similar reactivity towards
nucleophiles.
The rate constant for hydrolysis of picrylchloride in water at pH=8.21 is 1.0x10-6. DNCB is at
least 1000 times less reactive, therefore the corresponding k1 = 1.0x10-9.
Another way of estimation is based on the known rate for reaction of DNCB with OH-; logk2
= -3.91, at pH = 8.21 this gives k1 = 2.0x10-10.
Even if the upper estimate is correct for OCN (k1 = 1.0x10-9 at pH = 8.21), then half-life of
OCN towards nucleophilic hydrolysis in water at pH = 8.21 is 50 years at +25°C.
For the most environmentally relevant, less halogenated (tetra- to hepta-) aromatic
compounds half-life times exceed 1000 years. This finding suggests nucleophylic hydrolysis
is not a significant pathway of environmental degradation for haloaromatic POPs.
We propose a new approach to determination of environmental degradation rates of toxicants:
instead of direct experiments with toxicants, determination of degradation rates for non-toxic,
non-persistent model compounds and calculation of degradation rate for a target toxicant with
help of Hammett equation.
Acknowledgement. This work was supported via NorthPOP project (www.northpop.no) and
EC FP6 integrated project MODELKEY, contract no. 511237 GOCE(www.modelkey.org).
92
Poster Abstracts
Using SPEARsalinity to identify effects of salinity on freshwater systems
Ralf Schäfer1,*, Ben Kefford1, Matthias Liess2, Vincent Pettigrove3,
Richard Marchant4 & Leon Metzeling5
1
RMIT University, Biotechnology and Environmental Biology, School of Applied Sciences, Bundoora, VIC,
Australia
2
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department System Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
3
Melbourne Water, Research and Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
4
Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
5
EPA Victoria, Macleod, VIC, Australia
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Deforestation, mining and road de-icing can lead to an increase of the salinity regime of
freshwater systems which in turn will alter the community composition. We have developed
an index that identifies the SPEcies At Risk (SPEAR) in invertebrate assemblages of being
affected by salinity. The index relies on ecological and physiological traits of invertebrate
taxa (such as sensitivity to salinity or reproduction mode) to determine the fraction of SPEAR
species in communities. The approach has already been used successfully to identify effects
of organic toxicants.
We present case studies where the index is applied on field data from streams in Victoria and
South Australia, Australia. The fraction of SPEAR species decreased in the communities with
an increase in salinity. We show potential adaptations of the SPEARsalinity index for the input
of saline discharge in Germany.
93
Poster Abstracts
Water toxicity assessment in Catalan rivers (NE Spain) using species sensivity
distribution and artificial neural networks
Roberta Carafa1,*, Leslie Faggiano3, Montserrat Real1, Antoni Munné2,
Antoni Ginebreda4, Helena Guasch3, Francesco Ricciardi3
1
URSCorp, C/ Urgell 143, 4ª planta , 08036 Barcelona, Spain
Agència Catalana de l'Aigua, c/ Provença, 204-208, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
3
Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi s/n - Facultat de Ciències, 17071 Girona, Spain
4
Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDÆA-CSIC, C/ Jordi Girona, 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
In compliance with the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive, the monitoring
program of the ecological and the chemical status of surface waters has been set up by the
Catalan Water Agency in the Catalan basins (NE Spain). The large amount of data collected
and the complex relationships among the monitored variables make difficult data
interpretation in terms of toxic impact, especially considering that even pollutants at very low
concentration may contribute to the total toxicity of a mixture (Farré et al., 2007).
The whole dataset of chemical controls carried out by the Catalan Water Agency during years
2007-2008 (408 sampling stations and 127 pollutants) have been analysed using sequential
advanced modelling techniques. Data on contaminants concentration in water were pre-treated
in order to calculate the bioavailable fraction, depending on substance properties and local
environmental conditions (de Zwart et al. 2008).
The resulting values were used to predict the potential impact on aquatic biota of toxic
substances in complex mixtures and to identify hot spots. Exposure assessment with Species
Sensitivity Distribution, (SSD) and mixture toxicity rules was used for this purpose to
compute the multi-substances Potentially Affected Fraction (msPAF) (de Zwart and
Posthuma, 2005).
In order to understand and visualize the spatial distribution of the toxic risk, the Self
Organising Maps (SOM) method, which is an unsupervised algorithm of an artificial neural
network model (Kohonen, 1982, 2001), was applied on the output data of these models.
Finally, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed on top of Neural Network
results in order to identify main influential variables which account for the pollution trends.
From the foresaid analysis it has been estimated that the combined toxicity of the pollutants
analyzed in the Catalan surface waters might potentially impact less than 30% of the species
in the 90% of sampling stations and less than 5% of the species in the 20% of the stations.
Urban and industrial areas are the most impacted: the urban area of Barcelona and its
surrounding show several impacts due to industrial compounds such as heavy metals (Ni, Cu,
Be), phenol and dichlorobenzene. Cases of pesticide contamination are scattered in some
agricultural areas, while patterns of heavy metal pollution are identified in the North-Eastern
part of the region.
Farré, M., Martínez, E., Barceló, D., 2007. Validation of interlaboratory studies on toxicity in water samples.
Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 26, 4: 283-292.
de Zwart, D., and Posthuma, L. 2005. Complex mixture toxicity for single and multiple species: proposed
methodologies. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 24: 2665–2676.
de Zwart, D., Warne, A., Forbes, V. E., Peijnenburg, W. J. G. M., and Van de Meent, D. 2008. Matrix and media
extrapolation. in Solomon, K. R., Brock, T. C. M., Dyer, S. D., Posthuma, L., Richards, S. M., Sanderson,
H., Sibley, P. K., Van den Brink, P. J., and De Zwart, D., editors. Extrapolation practice for ecological
effect characterization of chemicals (EXPECT). SETAC Press, Pensacola, FL.
Kohonen, T., 1982. Self-organized formation of topologically correct feature maps. Biological Cybernetics,
43:59-69.
Kohonen T. Self-organizing maps. Springer series in information sciences. New York; Springer; 2001, p. 501.
94
Poster Abstracts
A spatially-explicit assessment of pollutants impact and macro-invertebrates
diversity and community structure in Danube river
Guillaume Guénard1,*, Peter C. von der Ohe2 & Sovan Lek1
1
CNRS / Université Paul Sabatier, Laboratoire "Evolution et Diversité Biologique" (EDB) UMR 5174, , Bât 4R3
(b1-2) - Porte 130, 118 Rte. de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
2
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Effect Directed Analysis, Permoserstr. 15,
04318 Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
Human activities are inherently structured in space because of their reliance on environmental
conditions which are themselves spatially structured. These activities emit pollutants of
various kinds and in different ways (diffuse source vs. point source). Moreover, the
consequences of these emissions (i.e. on-site impact of pollutants and their interference with
ecosystems functioning) are influenced by processes that are spatially structured in the river
network, namely mixing and dilution. Hence, we expect pollution to be spatially structured.
Spatially-explicit relationships between chemical status and community structure or diversity
can now be explored with recent tools developed in the framework of spatial analysis, and
based on connection-derived eigenfunctions. More particularly, Multi-scale Codependence
Analysis (MCA) enables to compute sets of scale-specific correlations between variables and
to test them for statistical significance.
Our objective is to quantify the effect of the contamination of waters affected by anthropic
pressures on the composition or biodiversity of the macro-invertebrate communities in a
multiple spatial scale basis. Chemical status was assessed using indicator variables describing
heavy metal and organic compounds' toxicity in water, sediments, and suspended matter,
together with macro-invertebrate community assessments. The selected river, Danube,
stretches 2 850 km and is affected by the activity of the 81 million people living in its
catchment area. We used information on 86 sites span 2 200 km of mainstream Danube river
and its largest tributaries. Preliminary works indicate that macro-invertebrates composition
and biodiversity are affected primarily by the heavy metal and organic compounds toxicity of
sediments at large spatial scales.
Outcomes of this study are (1) to increase sensitivity in detecting relevant relationships and
(2) to provide decision-makers with insight on the scale(s) (e.g. multi-national, national, local)
at which corrective actions should be undertaken to achieve specific environmental protection
goals.
95
Poster Abstracts
SPEAR Calculator – New tool for analysis of biomonitoring and mesocosm
studies with freshwater invertebrates
Kattwinkel M.*, Beketov M.A., Liess M.
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department System Ecotoxicology, Leipzig, Germany
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
SPEAR is a family of stressor-specific bioindicators based on biological traits of freshwater
macroinvertebrates. The main advantage of the SPEAR system is that it is based on biological
traits of stream invertebrates rather than on taxonomic composition or abundance parameters
like many conventional bioassessment indices. Therefore, this system is relatively
independent from confounding factors, and thus its application is unconstrained by
geographical and geomorphological factors and their associated differences in biological
communities. Up to now, there are SPEAR indices for three different stressor types:
pesticides, organic toxicants, and salinity. To facilitate use of the SPEAR indices we
developed a web-based and freely available software SPEAR Calculator
(http://www.systemecology.eu/SPEAR/Start.html). This program calculates the SPEAR
indices of user given sampling data of the macroinvertebrate community, using information
on all the relevant traits accumulated in the SPEAR database for several regions of Eurasia
(Liess et al., 2008). Besides, with this software it is possible to predict level of pesticide
contamination basing on the macroinvertebrate data, if pesticide exposure was not chemically
measured.
96
Poster Abstracts
The buffer intensity theory as a tool for the evaluation of long-standing effects in
intrinsic chemical remediation of aluminium in natural waters in the presence of
gibbsite
Igor Povar*
Institute of Chemistry, Department Physical and Chemical Methods of Research and Analyze, Academy of
Sciences, 3 Academiei str., Chişinău, MD 2028, Republic of Moldova
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
For a risk assessment of contaminated sites it is of primary importance to know how and to
what extent the contaminants will spread or decline at some point. The problem of controlling
the ion concentrations in natural systems may be formulated as: what is the response of the
system when changing the parameters that govern the pM? In other words, what is the pM
buffer intensity of the system? To understand the control of metal solution concentrations in
ecosystems, we need to understand the removal processes for involving compounds and
phases. In this work, a new theoretical approach is developed to evaluate the ion-molecular
buffering intensity, βX, of acidic natural waters in the equilibrium with the mineral gibbsite
(solid phase) with respect to pX, where pX = -log[X] (pX = pH for acid-base buffers and pAl
for the aluminium-ion buffer). Gibbsite Al(OH)3(S) has the major control on soluble
aluminium species at a given pH. The natural waters tend to keep a relatively constant pAl
even though the Al3+ ions may be introduced from some outside sources. The concept of
buffering intensity is very useful in assessing the acid-base status of acidic natural waters as
well as for assessing the Al buffering effect. The developed approach allows for evaluating the
behavior of buffering capacities βH and βAl in natural waters by taking into account the Al
buffering domination. The influence of various factors (temperature, the accuracy of
thermodynamic data, pH and concentrations of main inorganic and organic (mononuclear and
polynuclear) compounds in natural waters) on the buffer characteristics of these two-phase
buffer systems was investigated. Our approach will be tested on real water quality data and
will applied to the practical analysis of natural water samples.
97
Poster Abstracts
Exposure modelling on a river basin scale in support to risk assessment for
chemicals in European river basins
Jos van Gils1,*, Bert van Hattum2, Loana Arentz1, Jan van Beek1
1
Deltares, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH, Delft, The Netherlands
VU University, Institute for Environmental Studies, Department of Chemistry&Biology, Faculty of Earth and
Life Sciences, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
Following the 2000 European Water Framework Directive and recent insights in sediment
management on a river basin scale, the poster presents an exposure model aiming at
supporting a risk assessment for chemicals on a basin-wide scale, developed in the EU FP6
project MODELKEY. The model, called EXPOBASIN, establishes spatial relations between
causes (pollution sources) and effects (ecological risk), taking into account the geometry,
hydrology and fine sediment dynamics of European river basins. Bio-availability and bioaccumulation are included in the assessment. As a result, the exposure can be quantified not
only in terms of water concentrations, but also in terms of sediment concentrations and
concentrations in biota. By using existing pan-European databases, applications to all
European river basins can easily be set up.
The primary question to be answered by EXPOBASIN is to provide a quantitative and
objective ranking of chemicals and/or pollution sources. It can for example be used to support
the risk assessment for the potential release of historically polluted sediments as a result of
extreme floods, which is a major concern in different European river basins.
The calibration/validation of EXPOBASIN, by means of successful applications and
assessments for five European River Basins, has just been completed. This exercise revealed
very good results for dissolved compounds. For compounds sorbed to fine particles, the
validation was more difficult, but it has been demonstrated that the model can be applied for
ranking chemicals and/or pollution sources. It was therefore concluded that EXPOBASIN is
“fit-for-purpose”. The poster presents highlights from the validation and presents sample
applications.
98
Poster Abstracts
The MODELKEY DSS:
A decision support system for implementing the WFD
Alex Zabeo1,*, Stefania Gottardo1,2, Elena Semenzin1, Jonathan Rizzi2,
Andrea Critto1,2, Silvio Giove3, Antonio Marcomini1,2
1
Consorzio Venezia Ricerche, Via della Libertà 5-12, 30175 Marghera-Venezia, Italy
University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Department of Environmental Sciences, Venice, Italy
3
University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Department of Applied Mathematics, Venice, Italy
*
corresponding author address: [email protected]
2
The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires Member States’ water authorities
a series of different monitoring, assessment and management tasks to be accomplished in a
strict timetable in order to achieve a “good” ecological and chemical status of surface waters
by 2015. Within the EU MODELKEY project, a decision support system (DSS) supporting
the overall assessment process of river basins according to WFD requirements is
implemented.
The MODELKEY DSS is an innovative software system that combines several risk-based
assessment tools addressing all major aspects of river basin management. It allows classifying
the ecological and chemical status of individual water bodies or (monitoring) locations. It
prioritizes hot spots by integrating environmental and socio-economic information. By
identifying relevant causes of impairment (key stressors and key toxicants) and the most
impaired biological communities (key ecological endpoints at risk) the DSS supports the set
up of additional (investigative) monitoring and consecutive measures.
All these features are available in a simple-to-use, geographically resolved software system
and graphical user interface, where: the river basin is at the centre of a comprehensive
analysis; data and information produced by surveillance, operational and investigative
monitoring are uploaded and processed at different scales of detail (river basin or hot spot
location); user is informed on details and probability level of the risk assessment of individual
quality elements; the user is supported in spatially visualising and evaluating results.
In addition, the DSS provides best practices and links to other relevant sources of information.
A strong feature of the DSS is its “open configuration”, enabling integration with external
assessment tools (i.e. any indicators, models and databases provided by the user).
The software system is developed on the User-friendly Desktop Internet GIS (uDig) platform,
an open source desktop GIS development platform and also a working open source desktop
GIS application. It is free of charge (downloadable from www.modelkey.org) and user
friendly.
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List of Participants
List of Participants
(Status: 13 November 2009)
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List of Participants
Name
Organisation
Country
Adámek, Zdeněk
Institute of Vertebrate Biology - AS CR (Department
of Fish Ecology)
TuTech
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of River Ecology)
Institut für Hygiene und Umwelt
Cefas - Centre for Environment, Fisheries and
Aquaculture Science
University of Koblenz-Landau
CSIC (IIQAB-Department of Environmental
Chemistry)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of System Ecotoxicology)
INBO - Research Institute for Nature and Forest
Masaryk University (Faculty of Science, RECETOX)
University of Girona (Institute of Aquatic Ecology)
Vrij Universiteit Amsterdam (Theoretical Biology)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
Masaryk University (Faculty of Science, RECETOX)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
CSIC (IIQAB-Department of Environmental
Chemistry)
Total Petrochemicals France
URSCorp
Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Environment and Health)
Czech Republic
Ahlf, Wolfgang
Anger, Thomas
Baborowski, Martina
Baier, Beate
Balaam, Jan
Bandow, Nicole
Barceló, Damià
Beketov, Mikhail
Belpaire, Claude
Blaha, Ludek
Bonnineau, Chloé
Bontje, Daniel
Bougeard, Cynthia
Brabec, Karel
Brack, Werner
Brix, Rikke
Cailleaud, Kevin
Carafa, Roberta
Carere, Mario
de Deckere, Eric
de Zwart, Dick
Deerenberg, Charlotte
Endo, Satoshi
Faggiano, Leslie
Foekema, Edwin
Franz, Stephanie
Gallampois, Christine
Gallé, Tom
Garric, Jeanne
Geiszinger, Anita
Gerbersdorf, Sabine Ulrike
Gevrey, Muriel
Gottardo, Stefania
Guénard, Guillaume
Hajek, Pavel
University of Antwerp (Institute of Environment &
Sustainable Development / Ecosystem Management
Research Group)
National Institute for Public Health and the
Environement (Laboratory for Ecological Risk
Assessment)
IMARES (Ecology)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Analytical Environmental Chemistry)
University of Girona (Institute of Aquatic Ecology)
IMARES (Environment)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
CRP Henri Tudor (CRTE)
Cemagref (Freshwater Ecosystem Quality)
University of Girona (Institute of Aquatic Ecology)
University Stuttgart (Institute of Hydraulic
Engineering)
Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),
EDB
Consorzio Venezia Ricerche
Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),
EDB
Povodi Labe, state enterprise (Water Management
Laboratories Unit)
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Germany
Germany
Germany
Germany
UK
Germany
Spain
Germany
Belgium
Czech Republic
Spain
The Netherlands
Germany
Czech Republic
Germany
Spain
France
Spain
Italy
Belgium
The Netherlands
The Netherlands
Germany
Spain
Netherlands
Germany
Germany
Luxembourg
France
Spain
Germany
France
Italy
France
Czech Republic
List of Participants
Name
Organisation
Country
Halkett, Cédric
Hanisch, Karen
Agence de l`Eau Artois-Picardie
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology)
University of Sheffield (Catchment Science Centre)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
Federal Environment Agency (FG IV 2.3, REACH)
GKSS Research Centre (Institute for Coastal
Research)
University of Basel, Inst. Man-Society-Environment
(Department of Environmental Sciences)
Ecossa
CRP Henri Tudor (CRTE)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
University Stuttgart (Institute of Hydraulic
Engineering)
Masaryk University (RECETOX, Faculty of Science)
Masaryk University (RECETOX, Faculty of Science)
Institute of Vertebrate Biology - AS CR (Department
of Fish Ecology)
University of Novi Sad Faculty of Science
(Department of Biology and Ecology, Laboratory for
Ecotoxicology)
Slovak Medical University (Department of Toxic
Organic Pollutants)
VU University Amsterdam (Theoretical Biology)
University of Joensuu (Faculty of Biosciences)
VU University of Amsterdam (Institute for
Environmental Studies)
Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),
EDB
VU University of Amsterdam (Institute for
Environmental Studies)
ECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH (Aquatic Ecotoxicology)
France
Germany
Harris, Bob
Hein, Michaela
Heinrich, Marion
Heiß, Christiane
Helmholz, Heike
Holm, Patricia
Höss, Sebastian
Huck, Viola
Hug, Christine
Jancke, Thomas
Jarkovsky, Jiri
Jonas, Adam
Jurajda, Pavel
Kaisarevic, Sonja
Kocan, Anton
Kooi, Bob W.
Kukkonen, Jussi
Lamoree, Marja
Lek, Sovan
Leonards, Pim
Liebig, Markus
Lilja, Karl
Löffler, Ivonne
Lopez de Alda, Miren
López-Doval, Julio C.
Lubarsky, Helen
Machala, Miroslav
Maltby, Lorraine
Materu
Muñoz, Isabel
Munthe, John
Murk, Tinka
Nešporová, Martina
IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
CSIC (IIQAB-Department of Environmental
Chemistry)
University of Barcelona (Department of Ecology)
University Stuttgart (Institute of Hydraulic
Engineering)
Veterinary Research Institute (Dept. Chemistry and
Toxicology)
University of Sheffield (Animal and Plant Sciences)
Sokoine University of Agriculture (Biological
Sciences)
University of Barcelona (Department of Ecology)
IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Wageningen University (Toxicology)
Masaryk University (RECETOX, Faculty of Science)
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UK
Germany
Germany
Germany
Germany
Switzerland
Germany
Luxembourg
Germany
Germany
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Serbia
Slovakia
The Netherlands
Finland
The Netherlands
France
The Netherlands
Germany
Sweden
Germany
Spain
Spain
Germany
Czech Republic
UK
Tanzania
Spain
Sweden
The Netherlands
Czech Republic
List of Participants
Name
Organisation
Country
Neumann, Michael
Nikiforov, Vladimir
Orendt, Claus
Peinado, Francisco Javier
Perceval, Olivier
Federal Environment Agency (UBA) (IV 2.3)
St.Petersburg State University (Chemistry)
OrendtHydrobiologie
European Commission (DG RTD)
French NationalONEMA - Agency for Water and
Aquatic Environments (Department of Scientific and
Technical Activities)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
Institute of Chemistry, the Academy of Sciences of
Moldova
GKSS Forschungszentrum
Federal Institute of Hydrology (Biochemistry
Ecotoxicology)
Hamburg Port Authority
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology)
University of Girona (Institute of Aquatic Ecology)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology)
University of Antwerp (Institute of Environment &
Sustainable Development / Ecosystem Management
Research Group)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
University of Bern
Consorzio Venezia Ricerche
Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),
EDB
VU University of Amsterdam (Institute for
Environmental Studies)
ECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH (Aquatic Ecotoxicology)
Germany
Russian Federation
Germany
Belgium
France
Petre, Margit
Povar,Igor
Pröfrock, Daniel
Reifferscheid, Georg
Röper, Henrich
Rotter, Stefanie
Sabater, Sergi
Sans-Piché, Frédéric
Schmitt, Claudia
Schmitt-Jansen, Mechthild
Scholz, Stefan
Schulze, Tobias
Segner, Helmut
Semenzin, Elena
Shinn, Candida
Simon, Eszter
Slootweg, Tineke
Spacek, Jan
Streck, Georg
Teodorovic, Ivana
Thomas, Kevin
Tuikka, Anita
van Gils, Jos
van Hattum, Bert
van Hoorn, Melissa
van Leeuwen, Kees
van Vliet, Sander
Verhaeghe, Hubert
von der Ohe, Peter C.
Povodi Labe, state enterprise (Water Management
Laboratories Unit)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Dept. of
Biology and Ecology (LECOTOX - Laboratory for
Ecotoxicology)
NIVA - Norwegian Institute for W ater Research
University of Joensuu (Faculty of Biosciences)
Deltares (Water quality)
VU University of Amsterdam (Institute for
Environmental Studies)
Waterboard Noorderzijlvest
TNO Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific
Research
Rijkswaterstaat Centre for Watermanagement
(Organic analysis)
Agence de l`Eau Artois-Picardie
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
(Department of Effect-Directed Analysis)
103
Germany
Republic of Moldova
Germany
Germany
Germany
Germany
Spain
Germany
Belgium
Germany
Germany
Germany
Switzerland
Italy
France
The Netherlands
Germany
Czech Republic
Germany
Serbia
Norway
Finland
The Netherlands
The Netherlands
The Netherlands
The Netherlands
The Netherlands
France
Germany
List of Participants
Name
Organisation
Country
Weber, Anne
Weiss, Jana
DGFZ e.V.
Joint Research Centre (Institute for Environment and
Sustainability)
VITO NV (MRG)
University Stuttgart (Institute of Hydraulic
Engineering)
DWS Hydro-Ökologie
Consorzio Venezia Ricerche
Germany
Italy
Weltens, Reinhilde
Westrich, Bernhard
Wolfram, Georg
Zabeo, Alex
104
Belgium
Germany
Austria
Italy
General Information
General Information
105
General Information
Conference Venue
Leipziger KUBUS
- the UFZ conference venue Permoserstrasse 15
04318 Leipzig
phone: +49-341-235-2264
fax: +49-341-235-2782
e-mail: [email protected]
How to get from Leipzig Central Station to Leipziger KUBUS:
The Tram station is in front of the Central Station. From platform 2, please take Tram 13 to
"Taucha" or Tram 3 to "Sommerfeld" until stop "Permoser Straße/Torgauer Straße", which
takes about 15 min. Then cross "Torgauer Straße" and walk about 5 min along
"Permoserstraße" or change to bus 90 to "Paunsdorf Center" until the next stop ("LeonhardFrank-Straße"). This stop is at the Leipziger KUBUS.
Ticket machines are at (most) stops and inside (most) trams/buses and accept coins or
banknotes. You could also buy tickets from the bus/tram drivers. "Zone 110" (1 zone) is valid
for the whole city of Leipzig.
106
General Information
Conference Dinner
Tuesday, 1 December 2009 from 20:00 h at Kiwara Lodge, Zoo Leipzig
(address: Pfaffendorfer Strasse 29, 04105 Leipzig)
Just with the turn of the
millenium, Zoo Leipzig turned
over a new page. The zoo of the
future is becoming reality.
Gradually, a new world is being
created, in order to guarantee
that the animals are kept in
species-appropriate
habitats
according to the most modern
zoological findings - the animal
kingdom as it truly is.
Part of this ambitious concept
was the creation of the African
Savannah in Zoo Leipzig. The
Kiwara Lodge, where we will
have our Conference Dinner, is
part of this “African world”.
Culinary delicacies from the
African continent will transport
the African feeling.
How to get there
from UFZ by tram:
From stop "Permoser Straße/
Torgauer Straße", please take
Tram 3 or 13 to "Knautkleeberg" until stop "Goerdelerring". From there, please walk
along Pfaffendorfer Strasse
which takes about 5-10 min.,
see map to the right.
Please meet in front of the
Zoo entrance, from there there
will be a joint walk to Kiwara
Lodge.
107
General Information
Access to W-LAN at Leipziger KUBUS
The following information provides you with access to W-LAN at Leipziger KUBUS:
Name of network (SSID):
Authentification:
Encoding type:
Key:
KUBUS
WPA / PSK
TKIP
MODELKEY
108