Project properties
Title Toxic effects of antibiotics on freshwater algae populations and communities
Group Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group
Project type thesis
Credits 24-36
Supervisor(s) Andreu Rico, Miquel Lürling, Paul van den Brink
Examiner(s) Miquel Lürling, Paul van den Brink
Contact info Aquatic Ecology Edwin Peeters 0317-483899 Edwin.peeters@wur.nl
Water Quality Management Bart Koelmans 0317-483201, Room 411, Bart.Koelmans@wur.nl
Begin date 2014/03/13
End date 2015/02/28
Description Antibiotics used in animal production and in human medicine may enter the environment through the discharge of waste-water effluents and have been detected in several rivers all over the world. Yet there is limited knowledge on the way and extent to which aquatic ecosystems might be impacted by antibiotic pollution. Recent studies have pointed out that antibiotics show a relatively high toxicity for primary producers, principally for blue-green algae, however the potential ecological consequences of antibiotic pollution for primary producer communities have been seldom investigated. In this study you will characterize the sensitivity of several green and blue-green algae species to antibiotics and you will study the potential consequences of antibiotic pollution for the competition between green and blue-green algae populations under different environmental conditions. The outcomes of these experiments will help to elucidate whether the equilibrium between green and blue-green algae could be affected by antibiotic contamination and whether structural changes in primary producer communities might be expected in contaminated aquatic ecosystems.
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