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SUMMARY:Is it worth to include nematodes in environmental risk assessment?
  A plea for a promising organism group
DTSTART:20151006T121500
DTEND:20151006T131500
DTSTAMP:20260510T042405Z
UID:85fe7c1bf5f19234a65ad4c6bdbdab83cb8cdea38499e4db8ec41e94
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Sebastian Höss\, ECOSSA (Ecological Sediment & Soil Assess
 ment)\, Starnberg\, DE\nAbstract:\nNematodes are important representatives
  of terrestrial mesofauna and aquatic meiofauna. Possessing key position i
 n food webs of soils and sediments\, they play a significant role for the 
 functioning of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems\, e.g. by contributing t
 o nutrient cycling via stimulation of bacterial and fungal decomposition p
 athways. However\, in spite of their ecological relevance\, nematodes are 
 still underrepresented in the field of environmental risk assessment (ERA)
 . Especially in freshwaters\, there is a long tradition to use macro-inver
 tebrates for toxicity testing and to describe the ecological status of an 
 ecosystem. Meiofaunal organisms have been neglected\, because they can har
 dly be seen with the naked eye and are considered as taxonomically challen
 ging. Moreover\, no standardized toxicity tests with meiofaunal organisms 
 had been available. Arguing stakeholders and endusers into the advantages 
 of nematodes as bioindicators is a tedious exercise and is only promising 
 if certain criteria are fulfilled: (1) good ecotoxicologically and ecologi
 cally scientific background\; (2) standardized methods\; (3) simple\, but 
 reliable (bio)indices. In this presentation\, some case studies should dem
 onstrate the suitability of nematodes in several fields of ecotoxicology a
 nd ERA. Moreover\, the significance of standard methods (ASTM E2172-01\; I
 SO 10872) and stress indices (Maturity Index\; NemaSPEAR[%]) as a basis fo
 r a routine\, and thus commercial use in ERA is pointed out.Short biograph
 y:\nSebastian Höss\, born 1968 in Ingolstadt (Germany)\, studied biology 
 and graduated at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. In 2001 he di
 d his Ph.D. at the Humbold University in Berlin\, working on the developme
 nt and standardization of a sediment and soil toxicity test using the nema
 tode Caenorhabditis elegans. In 2000\, Sebastian Höss started a research 
 and contract laboratory called Ecossa (Ecological Sediment and Soil Assess
 ment)\, developing and applying ecotoxicological and ecological tools for 
 the quality assessment of soils and sediments. Since 2004 S. Höss is chai
 r of the Institute of Biodiversity-Network (ibn). He works as consultant i
 n several national and international advisory boards (e.g. DIN and ISO: St
 andardization of Biological Test Systems\, Association of German Engineers
  (VDI): Biodi-versity\, GMO-Monitoring and Risk Management). His scientifi
 c research is documented in over 40 peer-reviewed publications (16 as firs
 t author).
LOCATION:GR A3 32 http://plan.epfl.ch/?room=GR%20A3%2032
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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