New tools to detect ecological effects of contaminants in estuaries

Grant number: LP140100565 | Funding period: 2015 - 2021

Completed

Abstract

Identifying risks to estuarine environments from pollutants is difficult for environmental managers, who must choose between laboratory toxicity testing that is precise, but hard to generalise to field situations, and more realistic field-based monitoring, which is expensive, with a high signal to noise ratio. New molecular techniques may provide more options. Metabolomics can provide insights into the health of animals, and ecogenomics offers a way to rapidly assess the composition of an ecological community. These techniques offer great promise, but they must be cross-validated against existing methods to derive the best ’toolbox’. Working with Melbourne Water and CSIRO the investigators a..

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Related publications (4)

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Metabolite Changes in an Estuarine Annelid Following Sublethal Exposure to a Mixture of Zinc and Boscalid

Georgia M Sinclair, Allyson L O'Brien, Michael Keough, David P de Souza, Saravanan Dayalan, Komal Kanojia, Konstantinos Kouremenos, Dedreia L Tull, Rhys A Coleman, Oliver AH Jones, Sara M Long

2019-10-01

Environmental pollutants such as heavy metals and fungicides pose a serious threat to waterways worldwide. Toxicological assessmen..

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After decades of stressor research in urban estuarine ecosystems the focus is still on single stressors: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis

AL O'Brien, KA Dafforn, AA Chariton, EL Johnston, M Mayer-Pinto

2019-09-20

Natural systems are threatened by a variety of anthropogenic stressors and so understanding the interactive threats posed by multi..

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Using metabolomics to assess the sub-lethal effects of zinc and boscalid on an estuarine polychaete worm over time

Georgia M Sinclair, Allyson L O'Brien, Michael Keough, David P De Souza, Saravanan Dayalan, Komal Kanojia, Konstantinos Kouremenos, Dedreia L Tull, Rhys A Coleman, Oliver AH Jones, Sara M Long

2019-08-01

INTRODUCTION: Zinc is a heavy metal commonly detected in urban estuaries around Australia. Boscalid is a fungicide found in estuar..

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How is ecosystem health defined and measured? A critical review of freshwater and estuarine studies

Allyson O'Brien, Kallie Townsend, Robin Hale, David Sharley, Vincent Pettigrove

2016-10-01

Assessing ecosystem health is an ongoing priority for governments, scientists and managers worldwide. There are several decades of..

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