Search

Twenty-six common ingredients of personal care products (PCPs) in water, sediment and fish from the Evrotas River (Greece) were investigated. Water sample analysis revealed the occurrence of twenty PCPs at concentrations ranging from 2.8 to 2031.0 ng l−1, the maximum corresponding to the endocrine disrupting UV filter benzophenone 3 (BP3). In sediment samples, six compounds were found to be adsorbed, the highest concentration being that of 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4MBC, 1400.4 ng g−1 dw). Evrotas cyprinid fish (Squalius keadicus) showed a high accumulation potential for these chemicals, 100% detection frequency with maximum concentration that of benzophenone 2 (BP2, 41.9 ng g−1 dw). These data allowed estimating the distribution coefficients sediment-water (DCs-w) and the bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) of the pollutants investigated. Calculated rates revealed that benzophenone 1 (BP1), 4-hydroxybenzophenone (4HB) and ethyl-4-(dimethyl-amino)benzoate (EtPABA) have a strong tendency to adsorb onto the sediments, showing high DCs-w, i.e. 8.2E + 4 l g−1, 6.7E + 4 l g−1 and 5.7E + 3 l g−1, respectively. BFAs were only estimated for 5-methyl benzotriazole (MeBT), the compound having paired data from fish and water. The obtained values (range 2.0E + 2 l g−1–3.8E + 3 l g−1), indicated MeBT's strong bioaccumulation. Risk assessment of the investigated compounds for several aquatic organisms indicated a high ecological risk (HQ > 1) for BP3 and medium ecological risk (HQ ~ 0.5) for ODPABA. © 2018 The Authors

The hydrological and biological complexity of temporary rivers as well as their importance in providing goods and services is increasingly recognized, as much as it is the vulnerability of the biotic communities in view of climate change and increased anthropogenic pressures. However, the effects of flow intermittency (resulting from both seasonal variations and rising hydrological pressure) and pollution on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning have been overlooked in these ecosystems. We explore the way multiple stressors affect biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, as well as the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (B-EF) relationship in a Mediterranean temporary river. We measured diversity of benthic communities (i.e. diatoms and macroinvertebrates) and related ecosystem processes (i.e. resource use efficiency-RUE and organic matter breakdown-OMB) across a pollution and flow intermittency gradient. Our results showed decreases in macroinvertebrate diversity and the opposite trend in diatom assemblages, whereas ecosystem functioning was negatively affected by both pollution and flow intermittency. The explored B-EF relationships showed contrasting results: RUE decreased with higher diatom diversity, whereas OMB increased with increased macroinvertebrate diversity. The different responses suggest contrasting operating mechanisms, selection effects possibly driving the B-EF relationship in diatoms and complementarity effects driving the B-EF relationship in macroinvertebrates. The understanding of multiple stressor effects on diversity and ecosystem functioning, as well as the B-EF relationship in temporary rivers could provide insights on the risks affecting ecosystem functioning under global change. © 2018

Water scarcity is a serious environmental problem in many European regions, and will likely increase in the near future as a consequence of increased abstraction and climate change. Water scarcity exacerbates the effects of multiple stressors, and thus results in decreased water quality. It impacts river ecosystems, threatens the services they provide, and it will force managers and policy-makers to change their current practices. The EU-FP7 project GLOBAQUA aims at identifying the prevalence, interaction and linkages between stressors, and to assess their effects on the chemical and ecological status of freshwater ecosystems in order to improve water management practice and policies. GLOBAQUA assembles a multidisciplinary team of 21 European plus 2 non-European scientific institutions, as well as water authorities and river basin managers. The project includes experts in hydrology, chemistry, biology, geomorphology, modelling, socio-economics, governance science, knowledge brokerage, and policy advocacy. GLOBAQUA studies six river basins (Ebro, Adige, Sava, Evrotas, Anglian and Souss Massa) affected by water scarcity, and aims to answer the following questions: how does water scarcity interact with other existing stressors in the study river basins? How will these interactions change according to the different scenarios of future global change? Which will be the foreseeable consequences for river ecosystems? How will these in turn affect the services the ecosystems provide? How should management and policies be adapted to minimise the ecological, economic and societal consequences? These questions will be approached by combining data-mining, field- and laboratory-based research, and modelling. Here, we outline the general structure of the project and the activities to be conducted within the fourteen work-packages of GLOBAQUA. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Water scarcity is a serious environmental problem in many European regions, and will likely increase in the near future as a consequence of increased abstraction and climate change. Water scarcity exacerbates the effects of multiple stressors, and thus results in decreased water quality. It impacts river ecosystems, threatens the services they provide, and it will force managers and policy-makers to change their current practices. The EU-FP7 project GLOBAQUA aims at identifying the prevalence, interaction and linkages between stressors, and to assess their effects on the chemical and ecological status of freshwater ecosystems in order to improve water management practice and policies. GLOBAQUA assembles a multidisciplinary team of 21 European plus 2 non-European scientific institutions, as well as water authorities and river basin managers. The project includes experts in hydrology, chemistry, biology, geomorphology, modelling, socio-economics, governance science, knowledge brokerage, and policy advocacy. GLOBAQUA studies six river basins (Ebro, Adige, Sava, Evrotas, Anglian and Souss Massa) affected by water scarcity, and aims to answer the following questions: how does water scarcity interact with other existing stressors in the study river basins? How will these interactions change according to the different scenarios of future global change? Which will be the foreseeable consequences for river ecosystems? How will these in turn affect the services the ecosystems provide? How should management and policies be adapted to minimise the ecological, economic and societal consequences? These questions will be approached by combining data-mining, field- and laboratory-based research, and modelling. Here, we outline the general structure of the project and the activities to be conducted within the fourteen work-packages of GLOBAQUA.