Artificial Stream and Pond System (FSA)

The Artificial Stream and Pond System (FSA) of the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA) in Berlin (www.uba.de/fsa) will offer AQUACOSM Transnational Access (TA) for international scientists to participate in two different independent projects in 2018. The general experimental design is already established in both cases and external users are invited to contribute with additional parts to the respective topic. Since both projects will be conducted in the outdoor facility the precise start in spring 2018 will depend on weather conditions. A total of at least 200 person-days for 4-8 persons will be allocated to external users for AQUACOSM Transnational Access provision in 2018.

Project 1: Degradation of plastics at the freshwater shoreline – Development of detection methods, Project Lead: Stefan Meinecke, May to November 2018,

Offered TA person-days: up to 100

The degradation of macroplastics under natural conditions is mechanistically only poorly understood, especially because up to now there is no general established method for measuring degradation rates. We have prepared two stream mesocosms with a stony shoreline and constant wave exposure. The initial aim a three year lasting project is to find adequate methods and parameters to estimate degradation rate of various plastic materials. Beside optical or image-forming methods for the assessment of surface changes (i.e. standard light microscopes, a scattered light sensor and potentially a white light interferometer, which will be available on site), also material testing methods like tensile tests or comparative electron microscopy of surface structure might be promising for tracking plastic degradation. In addition chemical analyses could be considered in order to detect losses of additives or changes in the polymer structure as a proxy of the degradation rate. The latter approaches, especially chemical analyses, are not available on site and need to be an expertise by the guest scientist. Currently, the project aims on three different polymers (PET, PE, PBAT), but further types (e.g. material or shape) and hence also corresponding types of analyses are conceivably and will be supported by the host institute.

Project 2: Fate and degradation of a pharmaceutical in a freshwater stream mesocosm,

approximately from April to September 2018, Project lead: René Gergs

Offered TA person-days: up to 100

Metformin is one of the most commonly prescribed antidiabetic pharmaceuticals on the global scale and enters the waste water untransformed as there is no metabolism in human bodies. However, information on its fate in the water phase under natural conditions is scare and known degradation rates are ranging between few and more than 100 days. The project aims to investigate the transformation processes and ecotoxicological effects of Metformin under more natural conditions in two 100-m outdoor stream mesocosm containing a well-developed community including also macrophytes and benthic invertebrates. A special focus of the host institute is on degradation rates and the formation of transformation products under environmentally realistic conditions in the water phase, which will be measured on site. Furthermore, we are highly interested in including transformation processes in other compartments, especially sediment and macrophytes investigated by guest scientists. In addition, effects on bacterial communities or selected invertebrate species as well as bioaccumulation in various taxa would be valuable to add. The host institute can provide further support in terms of for example chemical analyses especially of nutrients, neutral tracers or similar by agreement.