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Project properties |
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| Title | Bioaccumulation of pesticides in earthworms under conventional, integrated and biological production scenarios
Country: Portugal |
| Group | Soil Physics and Land Management group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Vera Silva & Esperanza Huerta |
| Examiner(s) | Coen Ritsema |
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| Begin date | 2020/02/09 |
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| Description | Project description
The increasing dependence on pesticides to enhance crop yields and food quality and the frequent presence of residues of these compounds in soil and water have become major environmental issues of concern. Such change may result in the decline of multiple ecosystem functions, including plant diversity and nutrient cycling and retention. Earthworms are among the major components of soil biomass and play an important role in maintaining the structure and fertility of soil Some important soil processes like drainage, aeration, incorporation and degradation of organic matter are Earthworm mediated, playing an important role in soil quality Earthworms process large amounts of soil through their feeding and burrowing activities. Consequently, earthworms can accumulate many organic and inorganic soil pollutants, and therefore they are ideal testing organisms for assessing the bioaccumulation of organic and inorganic pollutants from soil. In this work we will study the bioaccumulation of pesticides in Eisenia andrei and in Lumbricus sp when exposed to soils from distinct vineyard agricultural production systems ( integrated and biological). The student will conduct exposure tests in the laboratory which will include the preparation of the soil for the tests, the test monitorization, the organisms sampling at different exposure times, as well as the sample extraction and chemical analysis. |
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