This Forum promotes research, monitoring, training and an enhanced understanding of the effects of environmental (single or preferably multiple) stressors, both natural and anthropogenic, on aquatic organisms and communities. Investigations into stressor impacts range from empirical through to restoration and governance perspectives. The Forum is a centre for dialogue and networking and offers expertise, collaboration and advice.
Speaker: Frances Orton, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society at Heriot-Watt University
Small freshwater bodies, such as ponds are likely to be subject to a wide range of environmental pressures due to their small water volume and proximity to anthropogenic structures. In our study, we sought to quantify intensity of six environmental stressors across these study ponds (n = 80): pollution (metals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals), eutrophication (nitrate/phosphate pollution), the presence of the invasive signal crayfish (Pacifasticus leniusculus: eDNA), heat wave occurrence/intensity, freshwater salinisation and the presence of Perkinsea infection.
The study encompassed isolated depressions, ditches, river floodplains, wet woodland, as well as urban and agricultural retention ponds, located in five geographical clusters in the UK: South-East England, East Anglia, South-West Scotland, Central-West Scotland and Central Belt Scotland.
Pond selection was based on estimated anthropogenic pressure and the presence of Rana temporaria, according to citizen science spawn count data. Predicted anthropogenic pressure levels based on publicly available data did not accurately predict measured levels of pollutions nor eutrophication. Eutrophication levels were generally low, however, we found high levels of organic pollutants across all ponds.
MASTS Open Forum Sessions aim at connecting the MASTS community with its diverse Research Forums and Steering Groups. At these sessions, Forums “open their doors” to present their members’ work and network with the community.
The Forum awarded 4 travel bursaries to representatives from Heriot-Watt University, the University of the West of Scotland, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Aberdeen.
Need an expert in an area related to aquatic stressors? Download the Forum’s database here or contact MASTS at masts@st-andrews.ac.uk
“Science, Sustainability and Society” was the 2023 theme of the MASTS Annual Science Meeting in Glasgow. The Aquatic Stressors Forum hosted a Special Session with a variety of interesting talks. Take a look at the abstracts below and for more detail visit the programme here!
Abstracts:
Environmental stressors include any physical, chemical or biological factor that negatively impact organisms at individual, population, community or ecosystem levels. The range of possible aquatic stressors encompass chemical (incl. oil and oilfield relates, nanoparticles, microplastics and litter), noise, electrical and light pollution as well as climate change-related parameters, such as water temperature, pH and salinity, furthermore fishery and changes in species interactions, such as predation and resource competition. Our knowledge of whether and how different stressors interact is minimal, which is a major obstacle to adequately considering multiple stressors in routine environmental risk assessments.
Associate Professor | School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society
Interests:
Freshwater (FW) ecotoxicology & protection of FW biota from threatening processes | Use of environmentally realistic exposure scenarios
Professor of Marine Ecology | Head of the ENU Centre for Conservation and Restoration Science (CCRS)
Interests:
Coastal ecosystems | Benthic marine invertebrates | Responses to environmental change
Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling (CREEM)
Interests:
Impact of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals and the development of methods for modelling the distribution of marine mammals across space for risk mitigation purposes, for quantitatively assessing cumulative risk associated with noise exposure, and for analysing behavioural responses to sound | Population consequences of disturbance and of multiple stressors modelling frameworks, particularly in relation to marine mammals.
Marine Directorate | Senior Environmental Toxicologist | Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystems (CCBE) delivery area of the Science, Evidence, Data and Digital (SEDD) portfolio | Lead of the biological effects of contaminants work in CCBE
Interests:
Advice and monitoring of the marine environment, including the measurement of contaminant concentrations in sediment and biota (fish and shellfish) | Effects of contaminant exposure upon wildlife, and assessments of environmental status | Environmental monitoring and assessments for OSPAR and the UK Marine Strategy (MS).
Associate Professor | Centre for Marine Biodiversity & Biotechnology | Institute for Life and Earth Sciences | School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society
Interests:
Development and application of ecotoxicological biomarkers of exposure to aqueous and sediment-associated contaminants in the marine and estuarine environment | Impacts engineered nanomaterials and microplastics on marine and estuarine organisms, ranging from bacteria to fish | Ecotoxicology of deep-sea benthic organisms, the general effects of anthropogenic activity on benthic community structure and the fate of organic and inorganic pollutants in the marine and estuarine environment.
Lecturer in Life Sciences | School of Applied Sciences | Member of the Centre of Conservation and Restoration Science
Interests:
Interactions between aquatic invertebrates and humans, and reducing human impacts on the environment | Effects of anthropogenic stressors, including noise and artificial light, on marine and freshwater invertebrates across multiple levels of biological organisation | Work with adult and juvenile stages of several invertebrate species to investigate stress induced changes in behaviour, physiology, biochemistry, and genetics (Crustaceans, molluscs, echinoderms, and cnidaria) | Investigations of anthropogenic stressors in multi-variable systems alongside other stressors, such as temperature, ocean acidification, and chemical pollutants.
Professor of Microbial Evolution
Interests:
Prediction of how primary producers in the ocean will respond to global change in the coming decades | Use of microbial evolution experiments and simulations to link short-term responses such as phenotypic plasticity and epigenetic changes, to evolution | Work on how different patterns and numbers of environmental changes affect organismal responses to them.
Marine diatoms.
MASTS was founded in 2009 to be a unique collaboration between marine research organisations, government and industry.
Charity Number: SC045259
Company Number: SC485726
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