University of Gothenburg
University of Gothenburg
A fish embryo
A fish embryo, only 72 hours old. Pesticide pollution may jeopardise these organisms and their ecological functions.
Photo: Pedro Inostroza
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  4. Mixture pollution in agricultural streams

Mixture pollution in agricultural streams

Research project
Active research
Project period
2021 - ongoing
Project owner
University of Gothenburg
Financier
Formas
Area
Sustainability and
environment
Topic
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and
Land-use

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”.

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