Auxiliary prof. Rosa de Fátima Lopes de Freitas
University of Aveiro, Portugal
Abstract: A significant population and industrialization increase has been a catalyst of climate change (CC), with low-lying coastal areas (e.g. estuaries) among the most vulnerable marine ecosystems. It is therefore expected that aquatic wildlife inhabiting these areas will become increasingly challenged under the eminence of CC, especially extreme weather events. Industrialization, despite its benefits, has been also identified as a major environmental threat, with the associated water pollution representing a great menace to wildlife. The rapid development and expansion of industry and other anthropogenic activities, such as mining, fuel and energy production, use of pesticides and fertilizers, and high-tech industries lead to the discharge of effluents containing potentially toxic elements (PTEs) into the aquatic environment, which puts the quality of these ecosystems at risk. Often the final destination of pollutants is lagoons and estuaries, with the tendency to be accumulated not only in sediments but also in organisms. Consequently, organisms from those areas will be exposed to a combination of multiple stressors, resulting in a range of associated environmental and biological impacts. Recent studies have already highlighted the need to investigate the effects of the interaction between anthropogenic stressors on organisms. However, significant scientific uncertainties remain in understanding and ultimately predicting the effects arising from exposure to multiple stressors. As a response to a continuous increase of contaminants discharge into the aquatic environments and associated concerns, throughout the last years a growing interest in the removal of PTEs from effluents has been observed, and new technologies for wastewater decontamination have been developed, namely the use of nanoparticles. However, the potential impacts caused by these approaches are still almost unknown. The present talk will give a broad perspective on how CC-related factors may affect the bioavailability of pollutants and their toxicity but also the sensitivity of estuarine species to pollutants, with a special focus on impacts at the cellular level.
Host：Associate Prof. Yide He
Nanjing Tech University
EEH Early Career Board Member
Time：04:30pm Jan 18, 2023 (Beijing time)
Zoom ID: 816 9975 7155
