Vijesti

Project updates: Project finished! 

The project has officially finished on January 15 and we are excited with the results obtained. The mesocosm experiment conducted with the mixture of 4 PhACs and 2 EDCs provided a direct evidence of bioaccumulated ECs transfer from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems through emerging adult insects. This was further supported by the results of in situ collections, where emerging insects (adult Trichoptera and Odonata) and riparian spiders had different emerging contaminants bioaccumulated in their tissues. Currently, we are preparing the manuscript based on these results, and we are intending to present them at the 11th Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences to be held in Zagreb, June 30 – July 5, 2019.

Project activities update: visiting ICRA

Ana Previšić and Marko Rožman are visiting the project co-leader Mira Petrović at the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) in Girona. At ICRA we performed targeted mass spectrometry analysis of PhACs and EDCs as well non-targeted metabolite profiling of in situ and mesocosm samples.

Project activities update: busy autumn in the lab

We finished our mesocosm experiment and fieldtrip collections of aquatic insects, water samples etc. So, lots of samples needed to be processed and prepared for the mass spectrometry, and our team was very busy with solid phase extractions of the target PhACs and EDCs.

  

Ana Previšić and Marko Rožman performing solid phase extractions of the target PhACs and EDCs from insect tissues and water samples at the Ruđer Bošković Institute.

Project activities update: We are about halfway through the project!

We are busy with many things; conducting fieldtrip collections of aquatic insects (bioaccumulation screening in situ at polluted streams and rivers), sampling the caddisfly larvae from our mesocosm experiment (after exposure to a mixture of target PhACs and EDCs) and performing extractions of the target PhACs and EDCs from insect tissues.

 

 

Project activities update: Mesocosm experiment

We collected caddisfly (Trichoptera) larvae from clean spring reaches (springs of the Gacka River) for the mesocosm experiment. Currently we are exposing them to a mixture of target PhACs and EDCs. We plan consecutive samples of larvae, pupae and adults.

 

 

 

Project activities update: Fieldtrips 2

Photos show us collecting caddisfly (Trichoptera) larvae from clean spring reaches (springs of the Gacka River) for our mesocosm experiment.

 

 

 

 

Project activities update: Fieldtrips 1

According to our project plan, we are conducting consecutive sampling used for bioaccumulation screening in situ at polluted streams and rivers. Here are some photos of sampling in the drainage ditches of the Drava HPP reservoir, receiving effluents of local wastewaters (with and without wastewater treatment plants).
We are sampling aquatic insects’ larvae and adults.