Derivation of guiding values of the risk of soil contaminated with heavy metals to terrestrial flora and fauna

• Grant number: 13/22162-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2014
• End date: April 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Elke Jurandy Bran Nogueira Cardoso
• Grantee: Tâmara Guindo Messias
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Among the main environmental contaminants we find the heavy metals, which are found throughout the ecosystem and feature the profile of macro and micronutrients, depending on the concentration required by plants; however their excess may be toxic to flora and fauna. The lack of information in Brazil on their toxicity and bioavailability in the environment, coupled with the gradual increase of their concentration and the environmental accidents that may occur, have included elements such as zinc, copper, chromium and nickel as potentially toxic metals.This project aims to characterize the ecotoxicity of selected potentially toxic metals when incorporated into natural soils or into the standard artificial soil (OECD). The metals selected will be incorporated into the soil to conduct acute, chronic and behavioral tests with Eisenia andrei and Folsomia candida. The germination and growth of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants will also be assessed as well as the response of the microbiota in natural soils with and without heavy metals.We expect to produce new insights about the toxicity and bioavailability of these metals in tropical soils, which could help in decision-taking in future environmental research as well as allow for the standardization of prevention and intervention values for the Brazilian reality.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MESSIAS, TAMARA GUINDO; ALVES, PAULO ROGER LOPES; CARDOSO, ELKE JURANDY BRAN NOGUEIRA. Are the Brazilian prevention values for copper and zinc in soils suitable for protecting earthworms against metal toxicity?. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, v. 30, n. 14, p. 13-pg., 2023-01-09. (13/22162-2)