Soil Ecology and Ecotoxicology Lab

The Laboratory of Soil Ecology and Ecotoxicology focuses its research on understanding the dynamic interactions in the soil ecosystem, particularly in agroforestry systems. The area of Terrestrial Ecology focuses on assessing changes in soil organism biodiversity (using mostly functional trait-based approaches) and explores the effects of these changes on soil ecological processes and ecosystem service provision. Particular attention is given to the impacts of land use changes, landscape alterations, and extreme weather events. The area of Terrestrial Ecotoxicology concentrates on the ecological risk assessment of plant protection products for soil organisms and beneficial arthropods, closely aligned with the research needs of regulatory authorities such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This includes studying the combined effects of extreme weather events and pesticide use on soil communities and their role in ecosystem service provision.

• Assessment of Soil Health Indicators: Taxonomic and molecular assessment (metabarcoding – in collaboration with ENGL) of soil organism diversity (microarthropods and macrofauna) and evaluation of various molecular parameters (structural and functional) in agricultural, forest, and urban soils.
• Soil Ecology: Study of the potential impacts of land management practices (including agricultural and forestry management, landscape changes, and the use of plant protection products) on soil biodiversity and its functions.
• Conducting Ecotoxicological Tests: Performing lethal and sub-lethal tests with all standardized species for risk assessment of soil organisms and beneficial arthropods (including bees) using ISO and OECD standards. This also includes semi-field tests (Terrestrial Model Ecosystems).
• Development of Ecotoxicological Tests: Conducting tests with non-standardized species and developing testing protocols with different exposure routes (not yet standardized) for soil fauna and beneficial arthropods.
• Prospective Environmental Risk Assessment: Environmental risk analysis for active substances and plant protection products for soil organisms and beneficial arthropods, following European ERA guidelines (DG Sante). This also includes the risk assessment of tank mixtures or application series in the field.
• Retrospective Environmental Risk Assessment: Environmental risk analysis of contaminated sites using the Triad methodology of ISO (conducting activities along the three lines of evidence – ecotoxicological, ecological, and chemical – and their respective risk calculations).

Contacts

E-mail: e3g@uc.pt