METAL CONTAMINATION IN A GLOBAL WARMING PERSPECTIVE ​Effects on soil properties and relation with toxicity changes

Project
National
International
Public Funding
Funding

Budget: 239105 €
Funding Entity: FEDER through COMPETE 2020 and National Portuguese Funding FCT
Grant Agreement No.: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029557
Host Institution: Center for Environmental & Marine Studies-CESAM, University of Aveiro (Portugal)
Coordinator: M. Nazaret González Alcaraz
Tel: +351 234 247 304
Email: nazaret.gonzalez@ua.pt

Web page: https://metoxclim.weebly.com/

Duration

Duration: 01.06.2018 – 31.05.2021 (36 months)

Project Manager
Dr. María Nazaret González Alcaraz
Staff
Dr. José Álvarez Rogel
Dr. María Nazaret González Alcaraz
Dr. Cornelius A.M. (Kees) van Gestel
Dr. Susana Loureiro
Partnership Entities

CESAM-Universidade de Aveiro

UPCT

VU University Amstedam

General Objectives

The overarching objective of METOXCLIM is to assess how biotic and abiotic components of anthropogenic metal-contaminated soils may be affected by climate change, by using toxicity to biota (measured by means of soil invertebrates) and the associated changes in soil parameters (physico-chemical and microbiological properties) as (bio)indicators.

Summary

Global climate change might intensify the hazardous effects of anthropogenic metal contamination in terms of soil toxicity risks and thus effects of loss of soil functionality and sustainability. The scientific research performed in this field has been mostly focused on the effects of single climate factors, while less attention has been paid to the combination of multiple climate factors.

The overarching objective of METOXCLIM is to assess how biotic and abiotic components of anthropogenic metal-contaminated soils may be affected by climate change, by using toxicity to biota (measured by means of soil invertebrates) and the associated changes in soil parameters (physico-chemical and microbiological properties) as (bio)indicators. The specific objectives established are:
 

  1. Assess the sensitivity of different soil parameters to changes induced by single climate factors (atmospheric CO2, air temperature, ultraviolet radiation and soil moisture) in anthropogenic metal-contaminated soils.

  2. Assess the sensitivity of different soil invertebrate species to toxicity changes induced by single climate factors (atmospheric CO2, air temperature, ultraviolet radiation and soil moisture) in anthropogenic metal-contaminated soils.

  3. Assess how the toxicity of anthropogenic metal-contaminated soils may be affected under different climate change scenarios, simulated by multiple climate factors (atmospheric CO2, air temperature, ultraviolet radiation and soil moisture), using soil invertebrates as bioindicators and their relation to changes in soil parameters.
Image gallery
Project Results
 

González-Alcaraz, M.N., Malheiro, C., Cardoso, D.N., Loureiro, S. (2019). Soil moisture influences the avoidance behavior of invertebrate species in anthropogenic metal(loid)-contaminated soils. Environmental Pollution 248, 546-554. Links: doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.01.105; http://hdl.handle.net/10773/25425

Scientific Conferences

​​Silva, I., Alves, M., Malheiro, C., Silva, A.R.R., Loureiro, S., Henriques, I., González-Alcaraz, M.N. 2019. Effects of climate change on soil microbiome. 4th Thünen Symposium on Soil Metagenomics, 10-13 December, Braunschweig, Germany.

González-Alcaraz, M.N., Malheiro, C., Cardoso, D.N., Silva, A.R.R., Quintaneiro, C., Ferreira, A., Alves, M., Silva, I., Álvarez-Rogel, J., Verweij, R., Mariën, J., Roelofs, D., van Gestel, C.A.M., Henriques, I., Loureiro, S. 2019- Will ecotoxicity risks of metal-contaminated soils change with global warming? XXXII Spanish National Soil Meeting, 10-13 September, Seville, Spain.

González-Alcaraz, M.N., Malheiro, C., Silva, A.R.R., Cardoso, D.N., Silva, I., Alves, M., Quintaneiro, C., Henriques, I., Loureiro, S. 2019. Metal-contaminated soils: an increasing risk in the context of global warming. Ciência 2019 - Encontro com a Ciência e Tecnologia em Portugal. Lisbon (Portugal), 7-10 July. Oral presentation.