"Environmental Sciences Seminar Series" de l'IDAEA: "Building bridges between biogeochemistry and microbial ecology to understand the fate of pollutants in aquatic ecosystems: the case of mercury"

Dimecres 6 de juny tindrà lloc a les 11:30h a la Sala d'Actes del CID un seminari impartit per la Dra. Andrea García Bravo, dintre dels "Environmental Sciences Seminar Series" de l'IDAEA.

La conferència porta per títol:

Building bridges between biogeochemistry and microbial ecology to understand the fate of pollutants in aquatic ecosystems: the case of mercury

 

Abstract:

Mercury (Hg) is considered as a priority hazardous substance because it damages the central nervous system in severely exposed humans. Aquatic ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to Hg releases, as its methylated form (monomethylmercury, MeHg) accumulates in organisms and magnifies in aquatic food webs. Hg pollution is of such concern that about 130 countries signed the Minamata Convention to reduce Hg emissions and to protect human health and the environment from its adverse effects. Understanding the biogeochemical factors controlling the fate of Hg is thus crucial to determine whether the reduction of Hg emissions might translate into decreases in Hg in aquatic systems and to predict future Hg and methylmercury concentrations in the environment and biota. During my presentation I will talk about the impact of a Waste Water Treatments Plants (WWTPs) in a lake ecosystem highlighting that sediments impacted by WWTP discharges are indeed local hot-spots for MeHg formation due to the combined inputs of i) Hg, ii) organic matter and iii) iron. I will end my presentation showing how these particular geochemical conditions modified local microbial communities towards a Hg methylating microbial population dominated by Geobacteraceae.

 

 Poster seminari Andrea García Bravo

 

Brief CV:

Andrea García Bravo integrated the IDAEA in July 2017 with a Beatriu de Pinós Programme. She got her PhD in Environmental Sciences in Geneva University (Switzerland). Afterwards she achieved a 5 years post-doc at Uppsala University (Sweden). Her research centres on the study of mercury biogeochemistry in any aquatic system (rivers, lakes, ponds) and terrestrial ecosystems (wetlands and soils). For a better understanding of mercury transformations in the environment, I concentrate now on unravel the role of organic matter on pollutants chemical speciation and bacterial activity in aquatic ecosystems.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrea_Bravo

 

Date: 
06/06/2018
Type: 
Conferència
Published: 
Tuesday, 22 May 2018