AMEO experience: IRET-UNA in Costa Rica – Lukas Reinhard (2022)

In this blogpost, Lukas Reinhard shares his internship experience at the Central American Institute of Studies on Toxic Substances (IRET) of Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica. Students of the Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology)  Program complete an 8-week internship each year, the so-called “AMEO”. The AMEO is performed either at an external university, governmental or industrial research institute  where students learn to apply the competences achieved during their study. Students also use this opportunity to travel and explore not only Germany, but also other countries.

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Neonicotinoids in global surface waters – risks and challenges

In this blog post, Sebastian Stehle presents a meta-analysis on the exposure and risks of the most widely used insecticides in the world, neonicotinoids, for global agricultural surface waters. Although acute risks for aquatic organisms from neonicotinoid exposure appear to be low, risk assessment results also show chronic risks to be of critical concern. Importantly, official regulatory threshold levels (RTLs) determined for pesticide authorization differed widely between countries, indicating large uncertainties and regulatory challenges in defining robust and protective threshold levels for neonicotinoids.

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Maritime ropes leave behind plasticrusts on rocky coasts

It has recently been discovered that plastic debris can form crusts on intertidal rocks. This phenomenon has been termed- plasticrust, but the formation process and potential plastic sources are unknown. In this study, we show for the first time that discarded maritime ropes are plasticrust sources and that summer rock surface temperature can contribute to plasticrust formation.

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Actually protected? Pesticides in nature conservation areas

In this blogpost, Jakob Wolfram talks about his recent study “Pesticide occurrence in protected surface waters in nature conservation areas of Germany”. In the study, he analyzed millions of records detailing the occurrence of pesticides in surface waters. The study showed that pesticides frequently occur in strictly protected nature conservation areas and could jeopardize their ecological integrity. 

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Avenues for future research to predict the effects of chemicals

Predicting effects of chemicals in ecosystems is complex due to many factors that influence the action of chemicals. Moreover, understanding chemical effects in ecosystems requires the integration of multiple levels of biological organisation such as cells, organs, organisms, whole populations, communities or ecosystems, which is rarely done. In this blogpost, Anke Schneeweiss and her research team provide a framework for how to integrate these levels by delineating connections between different ecotoxicological perspectives.

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Glimpse of 2022 (Part 2)

In this second installment of the ‘Glimpse of the year 2022’ series, we give our readers a glance of another 3 most visited posts in this year. 

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Glimpse of 2022 (Part 1)

In the first part of the ‘Glimpse of the year 2022’ series, we give our readers a glance of 3 most visited posts about scientific publications in this year. 

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Season’s Greetings from EcotoxBlog!

On the occasion of this festive season, the blogteam of EcotoxBlog and the Institute of Environmental Sciences (iES) at the University of Koblenz – Landau (soon to be the Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University, RPTU) wishes its readers and blog contributors a merry Christmas and holiday celebrations full of fun, surprises, and magic!

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EcotoxBlog welcomes newbies of Master’s in Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology) for the year 2022

In this post, Carsten Brühl and Jakob Wolfram welcome the cohort 2022 of the Master’s in Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology) here in Landau. Twenty-three students will study how environmental stressors can adversely impact our environments and how these risks can be alleviated.

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