Objective THIS PROJECT FORMS PART OF AN INTERDISCIPLINARY COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT WHICH WILL INVESTIGATE IN VIVO AND IN VITRO THE GEOCHEMICAL FORMATION OF METHYLMERCURY IN FRESHWATER AND MARINE ECOSYSTEMS AND ITS PATHWAYS THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENT. THREE AREAS WILL MAINLY BE COMPARED : A) THE MONTE AMIATA REGION, CHARACTERIZED BY A GEOCHEMICAL ANOMALY OF HIGH MERCURY CONCENTRATIONS B) AN AREA CONTAMINATED BY MERCURY RELEASE FROM THE CHLOR-ALKALI INDUSTRY, AND C) A CONTROL AREA WITH LOW BACKGROUND LEVELS OF MERCURY. EMPHASIS WILL BE GIVEN TO THE FURTHER REFINEMENT AND INTERCALIBRATION OF METHODOLOGIES FOR THE DETERMINATION OF VERY LOW LEVELS OF METHYLMERCURY AND OTHER HG SPECIES OCCURING UNDER "REAL-LIFE" CONDITIONS IN THE VARIOUS COMPARTMENTS OF THE FRESHWATER AND MARINE ENVIRONMENT (WATER COLUMN, SEDIMENTS, SUSPENDED MATTER, FRESHWATER AND MARINE BIOTA). TRACER EXPERIMENTS ON BIOAVAILABILITY, BIOACCUMULATION, LOSS AND TRANSFORMATION IN MARINE EXPERIMENTAL ECOSYSTEMS WITH EMPHASIS ON THE CHEMICAL PRODUCTION OF METHYLMERCURY WILL BE PERFORMED TO COMPARE LABORATORY AND FIELD RESULTS. THIS SUBPROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE IN LABORATORY ECOTOXICOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS THE FATE AND TRANSFER OF MERCURY COMPOUNDS, THE SIMULATION OF THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS AT THE COMMUNITY AND ECOSYSTEM LEVEL OF BIOLOGICAL ORGANISATION, AND TO INVESTIGATE THE UPTAKE MECHANISMS OF HG COMPOUNDS AT THE CELLULAR LEVEL. Fields of science natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metalsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems Programme(s) FP1-ENVPROT 4C - Multiannual research and development programmes (EEC) in the field of the environment - Protection of the environment -, 1986-1990 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX I Address Cours de la libération 351 33405 Talence France See on map EU contribution € 0,00
