engleski

Emerging contaminants in freshwaters: deciphering impact on aquatic macroinvertebrate metabolic response and ecosystem transfer.

The presence of emerging contaminants (ECs) such as pharmaceuticals (PhACs) and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in the aquatic environment is well known, but the information on their presence and fate in aquatic organisms is still scarce, particularly in macroinvertebrates. Understanding of effects of PhACs and EDCs on aquatic biota is a prerequisite for a thorough assessment of their environmental risk and shaping future environmental policies. Here we present an ongoing project aiming at advancing our knowledge on: I) endogenous and exogenous metabolic response of selected aquatic macroinvertebrates to mixture of PhACs and EDCs and II) bioaccumulation of these compounds and aquatic-terrestrial food web coupling. These objectives will be approached by combining field based research (in situ) and laboratory mesocosm experiments with selected macroinvertebrate taxa, primarily aquatic insects. Last generation analytical methods that include hybrid and high resolution mass spectrometric instrumentation will be used to study metabolomic profiles and to detect PhACs and EDCs in biota samples. Expected outcomes will reveal macroinvertebrate long-term low-dose exposure metabolite response patterns. In addition, time resolved mesocosm experiment will evaluate stress specificity during the time points providing an environmentally relevant temporal metabolite profiling. Furthermore, anticipated results will show dynamics of a whole body ECs concentration throughout the life cycle of aquatic insects, i.e. in all life stages. Furthermore, possible biomagnification scenarios during aquatic insects’ emergence will be revealed, providing novel insights into contaminants’ ecosystem transfer. Accordingly, we expect that achieved understandings of metabolic profiles of aquatic insects exposed to PhACs and EDCs, but also bioaccumulation and ecosystems transfer of these compounds will have direct application in the environmental risk assessment.

emerging contaminants (ECs) ; pharmaceuticals (PhACs), endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) ; bioaccumulation ; metabolomics

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