Can clay minerals make copper oxide nanoparticles toxic?

In this blogpost by Jonas Fischer, springtails were exposed to copper oxide nanoparticles at realistic field concentrations in four soils of varying properties. Toxic effects occurred only in loamy soils and mostly at the lowest test concentrations. Reduced nanoparticle agglomeration and clay-nanoparticle interactions were considered being responsible for this observation.

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The nematode that senses contaminants

This blogpost is a guest contribution from researchers at European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology (Wetsus) in the Netherlands. In this post, Antoine Karengera talks about their recently published paper dealing with the potential use of the nematode –  Caenorhabditis elegans –  as a test organism for detecting toxic potencies of pollutants in water sources.  

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Aquatic Biofilms—Sink or Source of Microplastics?

In this post, Gabriela Kalčikova talks about her recently published paper on microplastics being a source or sink for aquatic biofilms. Microplastics interact with aquatic biofilms, which crucially impacts the fate and behavior of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems.

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EcotoxBlog welcomes newbies of Master’s in Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology)

In this post, Carsten Brühl and Jakob Wolfram welcome the cohort 2021 of the Master’s in Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology) here in Landau. Eleven students will study how environmental stressors can adversely impact our environments and how these risks can be alleviated.

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A mini-review of process-based food web models and their application in aquatic-terrestrial meta-ecosystems

In this post, Stephen Osakpolor talks about his review of process-based food web models for both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem. These models are essential for understanding how stressors affect the interconnected environments.

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Can plastic mulching mitigate fungicide effects on soil?

In this post, Maximilian Meyer reports on his recently published paper “Agricultural mulching and fungicides—impacts on fungal biomass, mycotoxin occurrence, and soil organic matter decomposition”. The research question was – “Does plastic mulching mitigate fungicide effects in soils?”

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