5th Annual World Congress of Marine Biotechnology-2015 Qingdao, China
The spatial variability of trace element bioaccumulation processes:
Tools to environmental management
Dr. Jonathan Richir
STARESO SAS Calvi - France
Laboratory of Oceanology University of Liege - Belgium
Numerical Ecology of Aquatic Systems University of Mons - Belgium
Abstract
As transitional environments, coastal meadows are particularly vulnerable to pollution. Trace elements remain contaminants of concern because of their persistence, their ability to accumulate in biota and their toxicity. Local, regional, national and cross-border programs are thus initiated to monitor their environmental occurrence. Sentinel organisms, or bioindicators, have been widely used to this end since they accumulate the bioavailable and thus potentially toxic fraction of contaminants. In the framework of
the STARECAPMED project, the accumulation of trace elements in the seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.)
Delile was studied at different spatial scales: along a radial (100 m scale), in a bay (1 km scale), along the French Mediterranean littoral (10-100 km scale) and along the whole Mediterranean coastline (100-1000 km scale). Results showed that the contamination of the sampled shoots could vary as much at opposite scales. This benthic primary producer accumulates contaminants sequestered in the sediments, in addition to their dissolved fraction in the water column. The sediments also offer a time integration of coastal pollution and thus amplify the pollution signal recorded by the seagrass, resulting in the observed spatial variability. These results demonstrate that the in-depth knowledge of the ecology of the monitored bioindicator and the interactions it shares with its environment cannot be ignored. Such failure could lead to erroneous interpretations of the levels of contamination of monitored sites, and points out the need to define a sampling strategy based on the monitoring objectives and the selected bioindicator.
Biography
Dr. Jonathan RICHIR, from 2013 Scientific Collaborator of the Oceanology Research Unit of the University of Liege (ULg), Belgium, in 2014 Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Marine
5th Annual World Congress of Marine Biotechnology-2015 Qingdao, China
Sciences of the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, in 2015 Scientific Coordinator of the STARECAPMED project at the Marine and Oceanographic Research Station STARESO SAS, France, now Assistant Professor in the Numerical Ecology of Aquatic Systems group at the University of Mons, Belgium. Born in Namur, Belgium, in 1981. License in Biology (2004), Diploma of Specialized Studies in Applied Biology (2005), Master in Oceanography (2007). He publicly defended his Doctoral Thesis on the ecotoxicology of trace elements in 2012, with unanimous congratulations of the Jury. His research, which revolves primarily around the ecology and the ecotoxicology of trace elements, fits into the framework of European Policies and Directives related to coastal environment issues. This work is co-authored with Pr. Sylvie GOBERT, head of the Oceanology Research Unit. Master in Oceanography, Dr. in Sciences (2002), she teaches at the ULg (Biologic Oceanography, Pelagic Oceanography, Marine Ecology, Marine Plant Ecology …). Her researches focus on seagrasses, marine food webs, ecotoxicology, diagnostic tools, ecological health status indices, trace elements, stable isotopes, nutrients,
seascapes …The others co-authors of this work are Dr. Pierre Lejeune, director of the STARESO, and
Drs. Gilles Lepoint and Krishna Das from the Oceanology Research Unit of the ULg whose main domains of research respectively focus on the trophic ecology of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and on the toxicology and ecotoxicology of marine vertebrates.
