Every Summer Semester, Ecotox Master students do a 2-month internship or AMEO (Applied Module at an External Organization). Today, Unisa shares his AMEO experience working within the Functional Aquatic Ecotoxicology Group, RPTU (Landau Campus).

I am Unisa Adikalie Kargbo, a Master’s student in Environmental Pollution Management -Ecotoxicology at RPTU. I did my AMEO at the Functional Aquatic Ecotoxicology research group led by Prof. Dr. Mirco Bundschuh. The group studies how emerging pollutants such as microplastics and nanoparticles affect aquatic ecosystems, from individual organisms all the way up to ecosystem processes and the services they provide.

I worked under Aida Viza on her project “Leaf litter decomposition under Global Change: Impacts of extreme hydrological events and pesticide pollution across the aquatic-terrestrial continuum.” My main task was identifying aquatic, terrestrial and shoreline invertebrates to order and family level under a binocular microscope. I learned about organism groups such as Diptera (Simuliidae and Chironomidae), Coleoptera (Elmidae), Oligochaeta, Gammaridae and Trichoptera (Hydropsychidae). It was a great way to sharpen my skills in microscopic observation, taxonomy, sample handling and lab-based ecological analysis.

Overall, the internship was a really valuable and rewarding experience. My supervisor was always supportive, happy to explain concepts and answer any questions I had. Working right on campus also meant easy access to the labs and resources, and the university environment itself felt very well suited to ecological research. I left with stronger practical skills and a deeper appreciation of the research processes.