Ecological implications of complex mixtures of contaminants in aquatic habitats

水生生境中污染物复杂混合物的生态影响

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-06403
• 负责人: Rochman, Chelsea
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=751452
• 关键词: Ecological; implications; complex; mixtures; contaminants

In the Anthropocene, human activities are challenging aquatic ecosystems with a combination of stressors that have no natural analogue (e.g., synthetic chemicals, rapid climate change). Such stressors have the potential to fundamentally alter biotic systems at all levels of organization, including individuals, populations, and communities. In my research, I conduct natural and manipulative experiments to understand the organismal and ecological effects that anthropogenic stressors can have on natural systems. Understanding and predicting the impacts of these stressors is a key outstanding challenge in modern ecology. I use tools from ecology, ecotoxicology, conservation science, physiology, molecular biology and environmental chemistry to investigate the effects of a complex mixture of anthropogenic stressors in aquatic habitats. Specifically, my research focuses on microplastics as a novel model system for studying the synergistic biological impacts of multiple stressors. Microplastics can act as physical stressors, due to physical impacts of the particles themselves, and chemical stressors, due to both innate chemicals added during manufacturing as well as chemicals that accumulate on these particles from surrounding water. My research contributions have established basic knowledge about fate, exposure and organismal impacts of microplastics and have identified gaps in our ecological understanding of these contaminants, demonstrating that there is little knowledge of how microplastics affect populations, communities, and ecosystems. With NSERC funding, my research program will continue to use microplastics as a model system to answer fundamental questions regarding processes that contribute to how microplastics, alone and in combination with stressors related to climate change, alter ecosystems locally and globally. Microplastics have become a contaminant of concern globally and in Canada, where they are particularly abundant across the Laurentian Great Lakes. My laboratory will contribute vital information about the consequences of microplastics and their associated chemical contaminants for ecosystems, both under present conditions as well as under altered thermal and chemical environments that reflect projected future climate scenarios. My research program will use laboratory and field studies to measure how microplastics impact individual animals, populations, and communitiesinformation that is critical to fill existing knowledge gaps and to inform management decisions. To ensure that research from my lab is accessible to practitioners, I am mentoring and training a diverse group of students and postdocs to be effective communicators and leaders. These skills not only prepare students for a diversity of jobs (e.g., government, NGO, academic), but also increase the visibility and accessibility of our science.

在人类世中，人类活动挑战了没有天然类似物的压力源（例如合成化学物质，快速气候变化）的压力源的组合。这种压力源有可能从根本上改变组织，包括个人，人群和社区的生物系统。在我的研究中，我进行了自然和操纵实验，以了解人为压力源对自然系统的生物和生态影响。理解和预测这些压力源的影响是现代生态学中的关键挑战。我使用生态学，生态毒理学，保护科学，生理学，分子生物学和环境化学的工具来研究人为应激源在水生栖息地中的复杂混合物的影响。 具体而言，我的研究集中于微塑料作为一种新型模型系统，用于研究多种压力源的协同生物学影响。由于颗粒本身的物理影响以及化学应激源，微型塑料可以充当物理压力源，这是由于制造过程中添加的先天化学物质以及从周围水中积聚在这些颗粒上的化学物质。 我的研究贡献已经建立了有关微塑料的命运，暴露和有机物影响的基本知识，并确定了我们对这些污染物的生态理解的差距，表明对微塑料如何影响人群，社区和生态系统的知识很少。借助NSERC资助，我的研究计划将继续使用微塑料作为模型系统，以回答有关流程的基本问题，这些过程有助于单独和与气候变化相关的压力源，在本地和全球范围内改变生态系统。微型塑料已成为全球关注点的污染物，在加拿大，它们在劳伦斯大湖地区特别丰富。我的实验室将在当前条件以及反映未来预计未来气候场景的热量和化学环境下，在当今条件以及变化的热和化学环境下，有关微塑料及其相关化学污染物对生态系统的后果的重要信息。我的研究计划将使用实验室和现场研究来衡量微塑料如何影响单个动物，人群和社区的信息，这对于填补现有知识差距和为管理决策提供信息至关重要。为了确保从业人员可以访问我的实验室的研究，我正在指导和培训各种各样的学生和博士后，以成为有效的沟通者和领导者。这些技能不仅使学生为各种工作做好准备（例如政府，非政府组织，学术），而且还提高了我们科学的可见性和可及性。