Effects of selected priority persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on soil organisms
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| Year of publication | 2006 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The aim of this poster is to inform about activities connected with interesting project from the Czech Republic. The name of the project is "Effects of priority persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on soil organisms" and it has been granted from Czech Grant Agency - GACR (Project No. 525/04/P159). SOILETOX is the working group focused on soil ecotoxicology under EU Centre of Excellence for Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology (RECETOX; www.recetox.muni.cz) and this group has been the main investigating team of the project. Many master and postgraduate students have been involved to project research. The project objectives have been: (1) to establish and validate a test battery using model soil organisms, (2) to use these tests for assessment the effects of selected new priority POPs on soil ecosystem. The reason for starting this project was that newly recognized priority POPs have not been ecotoxicologically characterized so far (particularly with respect to soil organisms) despite they are in environmentalistic focus and can be found in soils in significant concentrations. The new laboratory of soil ecotoxicology - SOILETOX was established and the test battery was introduced there which is unique for soil ecotoxicology in the framework of the Czech Republic. The tests protocols and cultures of organisms were introduced and optimalized to enable research of POPs effects on: - soil microorganisms (biomass, respiration, nitrogen mineralization and nitrification, enzyme activities, functional diversity …) - earthworms (Eisenia fetida) - enchytraeids (Enchytraeus crypticus, Enchytraeus albidus) - nematoda (Caenorhabditis elegans, Acoboloides nanus) - collembola (Folsomia candida, Folsomia fimetaria) - plant test for emergency and growth in pot experiments In addition, research was started concerning (1) biochemical markers (markers of oxidative stress) of soil invertebrates, (2) bioavailability of POPs to soil organisms, (3) relationships between structure of POPs and their bioavailability and toxicity in soil, and (4) toxicity of complex environmental mixtures (sludge, contaminated soils …) to soil organisms. These issues will be developed further after project end. As model pollutants were chosen: polychlorinated paraffins (as an example of industrial chemical), toxaphene (as an example of pesticide), and azaPAHs (as an example of indrustrial by-products). The results measured in this project will fill information gaps about toxicity of the mentioned chemicals, they help in scientific research of POPs ecotoxicology, and enable link to the further studies. Some examples of project results are presented at the poster. In our opinion, testing the toxicity of chemicals has still the role in the soil ecotoxicology although the main research has moved to the "more scientific" issues like population ecotoxicology, stress ecotoxicology, multispecies tests, bioavailability etc. The reason is that plenty of existing substances and much more newly introduced compounds have been only poorly characterized from the viewpoint of ecotoxicity. This is particularly true for soil organisms, because there are only limited data when compared to aquatic ecotoxicology. Acknowledgement: Financial support from GACR (Project No. 525/04/P159) is highly appreciated. |
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