E2240 Effects of Stressors in Ecosystems

Faculty of Science
Spring 2023
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 2 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. RNDr. Jakub Hofman, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Klára Hilscherová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. Ing. Blahoslav Maršálek, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. RNDr. Jakub Hofman, Ph.D.
RECETOX – Faculty of Science
Contact Person: prof. RNDr. Jakub Hofman, Ph.D.
Supplier department: RECETOX – Faculty of Science
Timetable
Mon 11:00–12:50 D29/252-RCX1
Prerequisites (in Czech)
NOW( E2241 Effects Stress in Ecosys - Pr )
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to acquaint students (deeper and more in detail than in preceding courses) with the ecotoxicology of water, soil and terrestrial ecosystem, i.e. the impact of toxic substances and other stressors on organisms, populations and communities in ecosystems. The aim is to lead students to understanding the complexity of ecosystems, the interactions between contaminants and the environment, and the impact of these interactions on the resulting effects. The aim is also (in contrast to preceding courses) to present more bioindication methods and more assessment of the effects at the higher levels of the biological organization (population, community, ecosystem ...), including the basic methodology, which is then demonstrated in the course practicals.
Learning outcomes
After completing this course, students will be able to:
- understand in depth and in detail the effects of toxic substances and other stressors on living systems in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
- describe and explain complex interactions of pollutants - environment - organisms
- assess the effects of different types of stressors in terrestrial, soil and aquatic ecosystems
- when considering pollutants in ecosystems and their effects, take into account the whole pollutant mixture, the interaction of pollutants and other stressors, the influence of the environment on the risk of toxicants and the manifestation of the effects on higher levels of biological organization
- describe the most common bioindication methods, approaches to assessing the biological quality of ecosystems, assessing biodiversity, population status and ecosystem functions
- propose conceptual approaches to research and study the effects of stressors in ecosystems and specific methodology
- critically evaluate and interpret the results of studying the effects of stressors in ecosystems at different levels
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction
  • three case studies (water, soil, wildlife) showing the complexity of a real environment, a mix of stressors and interactions with the environment, the complexity of the effects on living organisms
  • (a) degradation of the environment, the main problems (water, soil, air - examples), mixtures of stressors and pollutant mix, the influence of the environment on pollutants, stress is natural (natural toxins), b) effects on living organisms - basic principles of ecotoxicology, types of effects, different levels (individual - population - community - ecosystem, AOP line), risk and hazard, c) relationships in ecosystems - system approach, direct and indirect effects, flows of substances and energies, ecological principles, law of tolerance
  • ecosystem services - influence on humans, necessary holistic approach
  • 2. Conceptual approaches to evaluating effects of stressors
  • prospective and retrospective ecotoxicology (examples of real studies - water and soil), ecotoxicity testing and bioindication, overlap of approaches and combined approaches, TRIAD and WoE approach - evidence of stressor influence (case study), what is normal or the concept of control / reference (case study, the regulatory context of WFD), causality (warning that correlation does not mean causality, examples of wrong studies)
  • 3. Biota of terrestrial ecosystems
  • Iota in soils and its significance (the soil is alive!), impact of soil biota damage (case studies), biosystems studied earlier or now in terms of effects of stressors in soil
  • terrestrial flora and fauna, plant communities and wildlife, impact of their damage (case studies)
  • main types of ecosystems and their specifics - forests, fields, meadows, populated areas, industrial areas (specific cases)
  • 4. Multistress in terrestrial environment
  • summary of possible stressors (contaminants and other stressors) typical for soil, forests, fields, meadows, populated areas, industrial areas (examples, case studies)
  • interactions with the environment, bioavailability (reminder), their possible influence at the level of individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems (examples)
  • 5. Bioindication in terrestrial ecosystems
  • what you can measure in the field and how (demonstration of methods - video, link to exercise)
  • what can be sampled and tested in the lab and how (examples of methods - video, link to exercises), interpretation and its pitfalls (case studies)
  • approaches using bioindicator species (lichens and other examples), pitfalls - migration of organisms and others (examples)
  • biodiversity assessment and interpretation, ecosystem production, forest ecosystems, agroecosystems, populated and industrial areas
  • microorganisms as indicators of soil biological quality, soil nematodes and microarthropods as frequently observed groups, wildlife, plant communities, regulatory context - obligatory monitoring
  • 6. Testing ecotoxicity of real matrices in terrestrial ecosystems
  • predictive risk assessment - testing of complex materials before entering the soil (fertilizers, sediments, sediments, waste ...) (examples of real situations)
  • retrospective approach - assessment of the surrounding of pollution sources (case study), evaluation of remediations (case study), ecotoxicity of natural samples? - interfering factors, regulatory context - required waste tests, sediments
  • 7. Biota and bioindication in aquatic ecosystems
  • biota in water, importance of aquatic organisms, impact of their damage (case studies), main types of aquatic ecosystems and their specifics – fluvial and reservoir water, structure, dynamics and degradation of fluvial ecosystems
  • food chains in aquatic ecosystems (benthos, phytoplankton, zooplankton, macrophytes, invertebrates, amphibians, fish ...), production, biodiversity, population and community structure
  • bioindication and biomonitoring - suitable biomonitoring parameters, biotic indices and diversity indices, saprobity, bioindication in the EU
  • sediments as a memory of aquatic ecosystems - advantages, disadvantages, fauna and flora of sediments, influence of stressors, changes in composition of communities and their interpretation
  • 8. Multistress in aquatic environment
  • summary of potential stressors (contaminants and other stressors) in aquatic ecosystems, multistresses typical for different types of ecosystems (specific cases), interaction of stressors and the environment, possible impacts on individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems (examples) contaminants and contaminating materials in surface water, sewage and sewage treatment plants as the dominant stressor of river ecosystems, waste water types - thermal, organic, toxic pollution, nutrients
  • Water Framework Directive - its practical implementation - assessment of ecological, chemical hydromorphological status of water, types of monitoring, current situation in CR
  • 9. Ecotoxicity assessment in aquatic ecosystems
  • methods, tests and model organisms suitable for the study of ecotoxicity and bioaccumulation of xenobiotics in aquatic ecosystems
  • representativeness of sampling, processing and testing of environmental samples (waste water, surface water, sediments), interpretation of results in a broader context
  • laboratory and field models, sources of variability and uncertainty, legislative context of testing and prediction of effects of pollutants in aquatic ecosystems (retrospective and prospective evaluation)
  • multi-species tests, microcosms, mesocosms, early warning biological systems
  • assessment of negative effects in aquatic ecosystems, ecological effects - changes in community composition, species representation and abundance of species and populations, field studies - use of biodetection systems, biomarkers observed in organisms, in situ exposure
  • 10. Current issues of pollution of aquatic ecosystems and their impacts
  • mixtures of substances and new types of pollutants and their associated effects in aquatic ecosystems
  • pharmaceuticals and PPCP, antibiotics, pesticides, flame retardants, microplastics, nanoparticles, persistent and pseudo-persistent pollutants - effects at different levels of the food chain - reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, antibiotic resistance, endocrine disruption
  • 11. Effects of anthropogenic and natural factors in aquatic ecosystems
  • climatic changes and interactions with other factors, the spread of invasive species and pathogens eutrophication and mass development of cyanobacteria - problems of freshwater and marine ecosystems, reasons, consequences and risks, production of cyanotoxins, approaches and measures to limit mass development
  • combinations and interactions of the effects of chemical and non-chemical stressors (including natural ones) - multistress approach - amphibian issue
  • 12. Stressors work in a complex environment - final summary
  • interactions of environmental compartments, migration and transport of stressors, holistic approach, landscape ecology vs. ecosystem ecotoxicology, process timing (need to assess long-term impacts, forecasts), global ecosystem (examples - CO2 deposition in seas, ocean mixing)
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Pankhurst, C.E., Doube, B.M., Gupta, V.V.S.R. (1997): Biological indicators of soil health. CAB International, Wallingford. ISBN 0851991580.
  • EEA (2001) Late lessons from early warnings: the precautionary principle https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/environmental_issue_report_2001_22
  • Jeffery, S., C. Gardi, A. Jones, L. Montanarella, L. Marmo, L., Miko, K. Ritz, G. Peres, J. Römbke and W. H. van der Putten (eds.) (2010): European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity. European Commission, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
  • SCHUURMANN G., MARKERT B. (1998) Ecotoxicology – Ecological fundamentals, chemical exposure abd biological effects
  • EEA (2013) Late lessons from early warnings: science, precaution, innovation https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/late-lessons-2
  • Römbke, J. and Moltmann, J.F. (1996): Applied ecotoxicology. CRC Press LLC, New York. ISBN 0-56670-070-1.
  • Suter, G.W. II, Efroymson, R.A., Sample, B.E., and Jones, D.S. (2000): Ecological risk assessment for contaminated sites. Lewis Publishers, Boca Ranton. ISBN 1-56670-525-8. 437p.
  • KOPP, Radovan, Klára HILSCHEROVÁ and Eva POŠTULKOVÁ. Základy vodní ekotoxikologie. Vydání první. Brno: Mendelova univerzita v Brně, 2015, 151 stran. ISBN 9788075093349. info
  • WALKER, C. H. Principles of ecotoxicology. 4th ed. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2012, xxv, 360. ISBN 9781439862667. info
  • WALKER, C. H. Principles of ecotoxicology. 4th ed. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2012, xxv, 360. ISBN 9781439862667. info
  • NEWMAN, Michael C. Quantitative ecotoxicology. 2nd ed. Boca Raton, Fla.: Taylor & Francis, 2012, xxi, 570. ISBN 9781439835647. info
  • ANDĚL, Petr. Ekotoxikologie, bioindikace a biomonitoring. Vyd. 1. Liberec: Evernia, 2011, 243, [22]. ISBN 9788090378797. info
  • NEWMAN, Michael C. Fundamentals of ecotoxicology. 3rd ed. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2010, xxii, 541. ISBN 9781420067040. info
  • NEWMAN, Michael C. and William H. CLEMENTS. Ecotoxicology : a comprehensive treatment. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2008, 852 s. ISBN 9780849333576. info
  • BARDGETT, Richard D. The biology of soil : a community and ecosystem approach. 1st pub. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, xi, 242. ISBN 0198525028. info
  • COLEMAN, David C., D. A. CROSSLEY and Paul F. HENDRIX. Fundamentals of soil ecology. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004, xvii, 386. ISBN 0121797260. info
  • Vital soil : function, value, and properties. Edited by Peter Doelman - Herman J. P. Eijsackers. 1st ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004, xvii, 340. ISBN 0444517723. info
  • Bioavailability of contaminants in soils and sediments : processes, tools, and applications. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2003, xii, 420. ISBN 0309086256. info
  • ATLAS, Ronald M. and Richard BARTHA. Microbial ecology : fundamentals and applications. 4th ed. Menlo Park, California: Addison Wesley Longman, 1997, x, 694. ISBN 0805306552. info
  • Soil ecotoxicology. Edited by Joseph Tarradellas - Gabriel Bitton - Dominique Rossel. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers, 1996, 386 s. ISBN 1566701341. info
  • Methods in applied soil microbiology and biochemistry. Edited by Kassem Alef - Paolo Nannipieri. London: Academic Press, 1995, 576 s. ISBN 0125138407. info
Teaching methods
The course is performed in the form of regular lectures on individual topics with presentation in MS Powerpoint. Individual topics are partly demonstrated and explained on examples and case studies. During the semester, the students will independently work on several assigned tasks.
Assessment methods
Attendance of the lectures is not mandatory but strongly recommended for complete understanding of the educated subjects. During the lectures, students are asked about subjects of past lecture. Final assessment (at the end of semester) is by written examination. It is not multiple choice test but 50 questions, which frequently require description, explanation or schematization of asked topic. Questions have 1 - 3 points according to their difficulty. Total count is 100 and to pass at least 30 points are needed.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2023, recent)
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