Mixture pollution in agricultural streams
Short description
In this Formas funded project, we are linking the effect of chemicals to the genome of freshwater organisms using an ecotoxicogenomic approach.
Macroinvertebrates are key organisms in aquatic ecosystems breaking down organic matter (e.g., leaf and wood) and linking lower trophic level to fish. Changes caused by pesticides may jeopardise these organisms and their ecological functions. Pesticide pollution may stress aquatic life to a level where they are forced to modify their metabolic pathways in order cope with the surrounding chemical pollution. We were able to quantify these changes and we reported quantitative gene expression differences of freshwater macroinvertebrates living in stream systems with and without a history of pesticide pollution in Southern Sweden.
Recently, a pilot study in agriculture areas in Southern Sweden was conducted. Results from this study was presented at SETAC Europe 2021. The work is titled “Linking Transcriptomic Responses of Gammarus pulex to Pesticide Pollution: A Pilot Study in Agriculture Areas in Southern Sweden”.