In this blogpost, Jochen Zubrod talks about developing an innovative machine learning approach for ecotoxicity predictions. These cutting-edge models show impressive predictive power for acute pesticide toxicity in freshwater organisms, holding promise for applications in environmental risk assessment and pesticide research and development.
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In this blogpost, Dr. Alessandro Manfrin, postdoc of the DFG RTG SystemLink, talks about his recent study published “Taxonomic and functional reorganization in Central European stream macroinvertebrate communities over 25 years”. Here they observed that because of increasing temperatures, species that favour cold waters are progressively replaced by those that favour warm temperatures leading to functional alterations of the community.
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In this blog post, Carolina Honert is recommending the ARTE documentary ‘How Chemical Giants Destroyed our Ecosystem’.
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The impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems has received substantial attention. However, there are emerging concerns regarding overlooked sources and novel forms of plastic pollution that have remained largely unexplored. This blog post covers the Special Issue of – ‘Frontiers in Marine Science’ , which sheds light on these hidden sources of plastic pollution.
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In May 2023, a group of M.Sc. Ecotoxicology students along with Carsten Brühl went to the Ecosystem Research Facility, Eusserthal (EERES) and the Riparian Stream Mesocosms (RSM). This excursion was a part of a module in the study program of M.Sc. Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology). In this blogpost, Danisa Lione and Hajar Bourassi (student representatives of the 2022 cohort), present some brief details about the excursion and their experience.
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Anthropogenic stressors have a significant impact on the delicate balance of ecosystems such as emergence of aquatic insects, connecting aquatic and terrestrial food webs. These insects act as a high-quality food source for terrestrial consumers, such as spiders. In this blogpost, Sebastian Pietz talks about his latest publication on exploring the potential effects of subsidy quality on spiders.
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In our latest blogpost, Alexis P. Roodt talks about his research on how riparian spiders are exposed to water-borne pesticides by feeding on emerging aquatic insects.
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Decomposition of organic matter is a critical function in streams and is important for their food webs. Because of this, organic matter decomposition is the subject of many studies. In this blog post, Verena Schreiner talks about a recently published paper in which decomposition was analysed using different substrates.
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In this blog post, Carsten Brühl is explaining the background and findings of a review produced together with colleagues of the Central American Institute for Studies on Toxic Substances (IRET) at Universidad Nacional (UNA), in Costa Rica that focusses on pesticide use in banana plantations and addresses exposure and effects in environment and human health. The review is the result of a DFG – Conare collaboration funding.
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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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