July 4, 2017

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8:00h – Registration

 

09:00h - Opening ceremony – Celebration of the Laboratório de Radioisótopos Eduardo Penna Franca’s Brilliant Jubilee: 60 years of history and challenges for the next 60 years

Speakers: João PM Torres, Olaf Malm e Celso Caruso Neves (Director of the IBCCF)

 

09:40h – Conference: Spatial and temporal trends of semivolatile organic pollutants in urban and suburban air – Southeast Brazil

Speaker: Dr. Rodrigo Ornellas Meire,  Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The talk will cover the levels and trends of semvolatile organic pollutants along environmental gradients in Brazilian Southeast coast Region. Passive air samplers were deployed in Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro – RJ) and São Vicente Estuary (Santos -SP) surroundings during winter (July-October 2015) and summer (December-March 2015/2016) time. This work was initiated to address the lack of knowledge on the fate and emissions of classic and emerging pollutants in South America, particularly at urban, suburban and contaminated sites.

 

10:20h - Coffee-break

 

10:40h – Conference:  Environmental Pollutants in Chile: What we have learned? 

Speaker: Dr. Ricardo Barra, University of Concepcion, Chile

Environmental pollution have been described since long time ago, unfortunately regulatory actions have not so quickly responded to the urgency of the problem. One of the main constraints in developing countries, is the lack of proper funding but also dialogue between the scientific community, the industry and regulators. Within the scientific community a predominant sector -at least in Chile -is the analytical chemistry scientists aimed to accurately measure the contaminant levels and the development of new techniques to measure always lower levels of environmental contaminants. On the other side, the toxicologist scientist aimed to describe the impacts of different contaminants over human beings and other organisms in the aquatic ecosystems. These two communities usually do not dialogue between them, what is a typical mistake when science should support decision making. In this presentation, we will introduce a case study addressing the risk of pesticide’s use in the marine environment in Chile, under a risk assessment framework. The need for an interdisciplinary approach will be highlighted, when it is expected that science support the decision- making process. In this case, the use of chemicals to combat sea lice infestations in salmon farming in southern Chile. Innovations were needed to reliably quantify pyrethroids pesticides in the sea water environment, by the use of passive sampling methods. Modelling approaches were also needed to understand the local conditions impacting the fate of these chemicals in the environment, as well as the development of proper toxicological bioassays with local species in order to predict the potential risks, going beyond traditional mortality assays. In our opinion, this is the best way forward to improve the analysis of contaminants impacts in developing countries by building a better interdisciplinary cooperation.

 

11:20h – Conference: Atmospheric pollution: Chemistry, transport, fate and human exposure

Speaker: 

Dr. Karla Pozo, Masaryk University, Czech Republic

Air pollution occurs when harmful substances including particulates and biological molecules are introduced into Earth's atmosphere. It may cause diseases, allergies or death in humans; it may also cause harm to other living organisms such as animals and food crops, and may damage the natural or built environment. Many factors can influence air pollution; between them we found for instance natural (I,e., rain, wind and others) and anthropogenic factor (I,e., emission of chemicals produced during industrial activities). How can we measure and characterize the air pollution?. In this course we will study the basic concepts of atmospheric transport, chemical composition (i.e., type of pollutants); we will study how to measure air pollution by using different sampling approaches (active and passives). In addition, we will revise how to analyze and interpreted results related to air pollution problems, based on certain groups of chemicals such as convectional pollutants, persistent toxic substances (PTS), and how to use that information to assess human exposure in different environments.

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12:00h – Lunch

 

14:00h – Conference: Environmental contamination by Persistent Organic Pollurants (POPs) and food security

Speaker: Dr. Roland Weber, POPs Environmental Consulting, Germany

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (‘POPS’) now lists 28 POPs for global management. Most are no longer produced but the safe management of POPs contaminated sites and stockpiles of POPs pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) represent major challenges for Article 6 of the Convention. Perfluorooctane sulfonate and acid (PFOS/PFOA) contaminated land has resulted in human exposure via food derived from animals and drinking water 1 and exposure from contaminated sites is possibly now the major source of polychlorinated dibenzo-p- dioxin and furan (PCDD/F) exposure. 2-4 Eggs have been shown to be particularly sensitive indicators of PCDD/F and PCB contamination in soils and are an important exposure pathway for humans 4-8 . It has recently been established that PCB contaminated areas in Europe can contaminate livestock, and the food products (in particularly meat) derived from them, at levels above the limits set by the EU regulatory limits for Indicator PCB6 and dioxin-like (dl-)PCBs 4,10 .

In this lecture these challenges are described and it is propose to develop a framework to systematically define and assess POPs contaminated sites to improve food safety and reduce human exposure to POPs.

 

14:40h – Oral Presentation (20 minutes each speaker)

Speaker: 3 undergraduate / graduate students

 

15:20h - Coffee-break and poster presentation

 

15:40h– Conference: How to Reduce Pesticide Airborne

Speaker: Dr. Tomaz Langenbach, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro e Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Brazil

The approach of this work was to study pulverization with reduction of horizontal pollution by drift and also how to reduce volatilization managing the daily time with distinct climate conditions. Pesticide air pollution by spraying was evaluated under different temperature, humidity and wind climate conditions in Brazil. Field experiments were performed with application towards the soil and in guava orchards, where spray dispersion was monitored by adding p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), a fluorescent substance, a tracer to the water contained in the spray tanks. Samples were collected with filter membranes (Whatman 180025), and the PABA was extracted from the filters by shaking with water in a Petri dish and measured in a spectrofluorometer. No influence of temperature and humidity was observed in this short-lived spraying process. Pulverization with pesticides were done with drop size higher than 5µm diameter and, therefore, the movement of drops is down by gravity to the ground and is not a vertical pollution factor. Nevertheless, wind drift can occur during airborne dispersion and alternatives to reduce drift will be discussed. Volatilization studies with the herbicide 2,4-D shows according to preliminary results that application in late afternoon results between 15 to 30% less air pollution than morning application, the usual practice. Other reduction strategies will also be discussed. Financial support: FAPERJ, CNPq and PRONEX

16:20h – Conference: Using amino acid stable isotopes to estimate trophic position

Speaker: Dr. Nicolas Sturaro, National Taiwan University, Taiwan

Estimating the trophic positions of animals in food webs is useful in addressing many fundamental ecological and ecotoxicological questions. These estimates are generally based on gut content and stable isotope analyses, which have become essential tools for ecotoxicologists. While these tools have proven their usefulness, they involve several pitfalls that can result in large errors in the estimation of animals’ trophic positions. Relatively recently, these tools were improved with the analysis of the compound-specific amino acid nitrogen stable isotopes. The approach is based on the fact that certain amino acids (e.g., glutamic acid) exhibit metabolic isotope fractionation and others (e.g., phenylalanine) are incorporated into the tissues of consumers in a conservative manner. Indeed, amino acids of the latter category exhibit only a small change in their nitrogen isotope composition, which is similar to that found in primary producers. Therefore, the trophic position of an animal species is estimated based on a comparison of the nitrogen isotope composition of these two groups of amino acids from a single organism. This lecture will try to show the potential of the compound-specific stable isotope analysis of amino acids to illustrate food-web structure and estimate trophic positions in wild animal populations. It will summarize recent advances from field and laboratory studies and present case studies taken from the aquatic environment. In addition, this lecture will discuss the benefits, current limitations and analytical challenges related to this approach, which continues to open new research routes in many fields of ecology, including ecotoxicology.

 

July 5, 2017

 

9:00h – Conference: Classic and emerging organic contaminants revealing new sources of contamination in the semi-arid region in Northeastern Brazil

Speaker: Dr. Rivelino Cavalcante, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil

Classical and emerging contaminants used as sources and impact indicators have been revealing new sources of contamination in cearense semi-arid region, located in Northeastern Brazil, which is characterized by scarce water resources. For the last ten years, studies in this region have been showing that little investigated human activities are impacting their aquatic environments.

 

09:40h – Conference: Persistent organic pollutants and mercury in commercial fish species

Speaker: Dr. Tatiana Bisi, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The lecture will address the bioaccumulation of micropollutants (mercury and persistent organic pollutants) in commercial fish species collected on the coast of Rio de Janeiro (eg.: tuna and tuna like-species, grouper, namorado sandperch, catfish, mullet, croaker) or acquired in local markets (e.g: shark, salmon, conger-rose).

 

10:20h - Coffee-break and poster presentation

 

10:40h – Conference: Heavy metal pollution and health risk assessment of agricultural soils in a typical peri-urban area in southeast China

Speaker: Dr. Jan Japenga, Zhejiang University, China

Source apportionment is the crucial step towards reduction of heavy metal pollution in soil. Existing source apportionment methods are generally based on receptor models for atmospheric pollution. However, specific sources often cannot be found and the quantitative importance of some emissions will be overestimated and/or underestimated when the models are applied to heavy metal source apportionment in soil. Therefore, a new method (PCA-MLRD) was developed, which is based on principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression (MLR) with distance from sampling sites to emission sources. In this model, PCA was used to identify the potential sources, with the assistance of GIS-mapping. After that the contributions for each element were quantified with MLR with estimates heavy metal contents in relation to the distance between sampling sites and emission sources. It can not only find specific sources but also quantify the range of influence for each emission.

A case study was conducted in a peri-urban area in southeast China, which underwent serious soil pollution of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb). Experimental data and PCA-MLRD were compared with two common receptor models: APCA-MLR (absolute principle component analysis followed by multiple linear regression), and PMF (positive matrix factorization). Compared with the last two models, the modified method can identify the exact anthropogenic sources and quantify their contributions in different sites. For example, a Pb-zinc (Zn) mine was identified as a major emission for Pb, Cd, and As pollution, and had effects on soil within 3km around the mine. It also provided better prediction of polluted elements. With the identified anthropogenic emissions and their influence range, effective management can be conducted to control and reduce heavy metal pollution in soil. Although this method still need to be improved, it will be a useful tool and can be widely applied in heavy metal pollution control. 

 

11:20h – Conference: Tracking origins and movement patterns of fishes using natural chemical tags

Speaker: Dr. Ian McCarthy, Bangor University, United Kingdom

Most fish species undertake movement patterns during their life cycle and defining these ontogenetic movements (i.e. where they go and at what life stage) and determining connectivity (i.e. the extent to which they intermix) are key to understanding their ecology for both conservation and exploitation management purposes. In addition, understanding movement patterns in fishes can inform our understanding of exposure to pollutants in the aquatic environment. Movement patterns can be reconstructed using tag-recapture and radio-tracking of individually-tagged fish but these methodologies are labour-intensive, logistically difficult to implement and/or costly. In addition, their application to small fish can be limited and so attention has focussed on using natural internal ‘chemical tags’ such as trace elements and isotopes to inform on the origins and movement patterns of fishes in freshwater and marine environments. The advantage being that these approaches are not size-restricted and each fish already carries its own internal tag. If fishes move between bodies of water that differ in water chemistry during their lifetime then this can be incorporated into the trace element chemistry of calcareous structures such as otoliths and scales producing a chemical chronology of lifetime movement patterns. This approach, using trace element microchemistry, has become an established tool in fish ecology to identify juvenile nursery areas (’origins’) and determine migration patterns (‘movement’) in freshwater and marine habitats. More recently, stable isotope isoscapes (notably of Sr, C and N) have been used to determine movement patterns of fishes and represents an exciting new field of research in aquatic movement ecology. In this review presentation, the application of scale and otolith microchemistry and scale and tissue stable isotope chemistry to the study of fish movement ecology will be reviewed.

 

12:00h – Lunch

 

14:00h – Conference: Stable isotopes of C, N and S, trace elements, bone microchemistry and pollutant profiles of aquatic vertebrates from Brazilian and Antarctic environments as tools for feeding ecology and habitat use

Speaker: Dr. Paulo Renato Dorneles, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,- Brazil

Some persistent and bioaccumulative toxicants (PBTs), such as metals and organohalogen compounds (OHCs), are efficiently bioaccumulated and end up undergoing biomagnification in aquatic food webs. Knowledge on this research field is still scarce in Brazil, which is partially related to the high cost of the analyses. This is especially important for measurements of polychlorinated-dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs). In this context, the use of the chemically activated luciferase gene expression (CALUX) cell bioassay will be discussed. CALUX is an increasingly used bioanalytical tool for quantification of dioxin related compounds (DRCs), such as PCDDs and PCDFs. Concerning Antarctica, the abovementioned scarcity is due to all the difficulties related to the remoteness of the continent. The evaluation of marine bird exposure to metals in Antarctica will be discussed in this talk, with an especial focus on the association between pollutant and stable isotope (SI) measurements. In which concerns bone microchemistry, the lecture will focus on movement patterns and PBT accumulation by fish in Rio de Janeiro coastal waters. Concerning the Amazon region, some recent studies from our research team will be discussed. These investigations included the determination of total mercury (THg), methylmercury (MeHg) and other metals, as well as measurements of SIs of carbon and nitrogen in organisms from two Amazon systems.   

 

14:40h - Posters Presentation

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15:40h - Coffee-break

 

16:00h – Conference: Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Case studies in the Spanish environment

Speaker: Dr. Begoña Jimenez, IQOG, CSIC, Spain

POPs are widely distributed in the global environment. In order to better understand their fate and behavior in the environment, data obtained from different monitoring approaches are important. The lecture will address different case studies performed in Spain using environmental matrices such as air or bioindicator species such as birds.

 

16:40h – Round table: Glyphosate Contamination

Speakers: Dr. Alexandra Pinho, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, Dr. Osmar Damian Prestes, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Brazil

& Dr. João Paulo Machado Torres, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Glyphosate in environment and health - This speach will show how much and where Brazil is using glyphosate, and how does it is spread to the environment and its consequences to biota.

 

 July 6, 2017

 

09:00h – Short courses:

1: Use of stable and radioactive tracers in biogeochemistry – Dr. Jean Remy Davée Guimaraes

2: Biorremediação - Dr. Alexandra Pinho

3: Atmospheric pollution: Chemistry, transport, fate and human exposure - Dr. Karla Pozo

4: POPs as tracers of global biogeochemical cycles - Dr. Rainer Lohmann

5: Aplicação de métodos de fluorescência de raios-X a amostras ambientais - Dr. Cláudia Cândida

6: Uso de culturas energéticas na reabilitação ecológica e economicamente viável de terras afetadas pela poluição, salinização, entre outros impactos - Dr. Jan Japenga

7: Estratégias de preparo de amostra para determinação de resíduos e contaminantes empregando técnicas cromatográficas - Dr. Osmar Damian Prestes

8: Transferência trófica de contaminantes em ambientes marinhos - Dr. Tatiana Bisi

9: Polyhalogenated contaminants in the kitchen: types, origin, transformation - Dr. Walter Vetter

10: Don’t forget the little ones! Workshop on the impacts of sub-lethal pollutant exposure on survival skills and performance of fish larvae - Dr. Ian McCarthy

 

10:20h - Coffee-break

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10:40h - Short courses

 

12:00h – Lunch

 

14:00h – Conference: The Urihi Yanomami Temɨõrẽwë / Yanomami Healthy Forest and Well-Being Program: overview and first results of environmental pollution research at the Yanomami Indigenous Land, Brazilian Amazon

Speakers: Dr. Pedro Santos, Associação Yanomami do Rio Cauaburis e Afluentes and Federal University of Amazonas, Brazil & Dr. João Paulo Machado Torres, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Yanomami Indigenous People (YP) has been fraughted with degradation of life quality and cultural and natural heritage. In the community of Maturacá/Ariabu, located on the Cauaburis River basin (CB, middle Negro River basin, Amazonas, Brazil), where the Yanomami Indigenous Land (YIL) overlaps the Pico da Neblina National Park (PNNP), poor sanitation and access to basic public services is notorious, as is the contrast between the traditional nomadic and the recently acquired sedentary ways of life.

The Urihi Yanomami Temɨõrẽwë / Yanomami Healthy Forest and Well-Being Programme (PUYT) is a partnership of members of indigenous and nonindigenous institutions, involving scientific research and socioenvironmental monitoring, education, training and extension, aimed at promoting life quality and sustainable natural resource use by the CB dwellers.

Until now, research has focused on environmental contamination by dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals, in water, soils, river sediments and game collected at and close to communities. Recently, we installed an atmospheric deposition collector on one community, and another one will be installed on the Imeri mountain range (boasting peaks almost 3,000 m high, the highest in South America east of the Andes) to study the altitudinal behavior of pollutants and extend the assessment within the CB. Here, we present the first results.

Currently, we are looking for partners and sponsors for next phase, the Implementation of PUYT, aimed at: establishing PUYT’s administrative and technical-scientific basis; beginning a Socioenvironmental Appraisal of the YIL portion included in the CB, that may constitute the Baseline Study and background of monitoring and other actions to develop subsequently; providing and facilitating technical-scientific training of team members to apply in the Appraisal, health and other issues afflicting the population; publicizing PUYT and the YP and strengthening collaboration with other peoples and institutions.

 

14:40h - Oral Presentation (20 minutes each speaker)

Speakers: 3 undergraduate / graduate students

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15:40h - Coffee-break

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16:00h – Conference: Cycling of POPs in the Antarctic biota and environment

Speaker: Dr. Rainer Lohmann, University of Rhode Island, EUA

The talk will cover the presence of both legacy and emerging contaminants in air and snow of Antarctic, and look into their food-web dynamics. In terms of biota, both different mammals (seals, orca) and a food web plankton-krill-fish- seal will be discussed.

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16:40h – Conference: Fine particles, black carbon and other uninvited guests in the air we breath

Speaker: Dr. Admir Créso Targino, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Brazil

People who live in urban areas spend a relatively small fraction of the day within transport microenvironments. However, the proximity to motorised vehicles when commuting accounts for a large fraction of the daily dose of inhaled air pollutants, especially in countries where public buses have old technologies or run on dirty fuels.

Another aspect is the increase of the volume of passengers carried by airlines over the last years, especially in developing countries, such as Brazil. The overgrowth of civil aviation enhances air pollution levels and poses health risks to passengers, airport workers and the population living close to airfields.

This talk will focus on the concentrations of black carbon particles and other air pollutants collected during walk, bicycle and bus commutes as well as on commercial flights.

 

July 7, 2017

 

9:00h – Conference: Are penguin feathers contaminated with heavy metals?

Speaker: Dr. Cláudia Cândida Silva, Universidade do Estado do Amazonas, BrazilSome previous studies have been carried out in order to know if certain chemical elements were present in feathers or other parts of different species of penguins. These studies were incomplete, since they evaluated the presence of only a few elements. With the X-ray fluorescence method, a deeper study is possible, where the question is: what and in what concentrations elements are present in the feathers of these animals. This gives us a better picture of possible contaminations.

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09:40h – Conference: Stable isotopes as markers of Hg origin in mining areas in the Amazon and Andes

Speaker: Dr. Jean Remy Davée Guimarães, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Radionuclides allow to trace complex chemical, biochemical and environmental processes without interference, due to the low tracer addition levels, made possible by the high sensitivity of radiation detectors. Natural stable isotope ratios can also be efficiently used as tracers, but enriched stable isotopes, recently made available, can be as sensitive and useful as radiotracers in the study of different processes. Examples of biogeochemical applications of radiotracers, natural isotope ratios and enriched isotopes will be discussed.

 

10:20h - Coffee-break

 

10:40h – Conference: Personal care products (PCPs) in marine and coastal areas: presence, fate and challenges ahead

Speaker: Dr. Tatiane Combi, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are chemical compounds that are not necessarily new, but are neither regulated nor included in routine monitoring programs. Some of these chemicals are personal care products (PCPs) such as fragrances, UV-filters, insect repellents and antimicrobials, which have been increasingly studied in water, including drinking water, rivers, wastewaters and effluents. However, studies focusing on their fate in the marine environment are rather scarce and the knowledge on their occurrence, fate and effects is still limited. This lecture will discuss environmental risks, distribution and fate of PCPs in marine and coastal areas. Additionally, current and future challenges for monitoring pollution in coastal areas will be debated.

 

11:20h – Conference: Contamination levels and temporal trends of selected emerging pollutants in the marine environment

Speaker: Dr. Catherine Munschy, Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (Ifremer), FranceThe levels and congener patterns of selected persistent organic contaminants were determined in filter-feeding molluscs collected since 2010 along French coasts. The study contaminants were emerging substances, namely, the brominated flame retardants (BFRs) PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) and their replacement compounds BTBPE (1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane) and DBDPE (decabromodiphenyl ethane), as well as historical BFRs, HBB (hexabromobenzene) and BB-153 (2,2’,4,4’,5,5’-hexabromobiphenyl), HBCDD (hexabromocyclododecane), PFAS (perfluoroalkyl substances) and synthetic musks (SMs). All contaminants were detected in the majority of samples, revealing widespread contamination of the coastal environment by these emerging substances. The levels, profiles and temporal trends of the different contaminants were compared and related to sources and current regulations on the use of these compounds. The results provide reference data for the future monitoring of coastal contamination by emerging contaminants.

 

12:00h – Lunch

 

14:00h – Conference: Chlorinated paraffins in the kitchen

Speaker: Dr. Walter Vetter, University of Hoheinheim, Germany

Active flame prevention plays a decisive safety role in homes. As a consequence, the use of flame retardants is frequently mandatory in flammable interior such as electronic equipment/devices and furniture. One class of flame retardants excessively used for this purpose are chlorinated paraffins (CPs). CPs are produced by the chlorination of alkane mixtures with different degree of chlorination (typically the chlorine content is ~50-60%). Dependent on the alkanes in the product, technical CPs are divided into short-chain chloroparaffins (SCCPs; i.e. polychlorinated decanes to tridecanes), medium-chain chloroparaffins (MCCPs; i.e. polychlorinated tetradecanes to heptadecanes), and long-chain chloroparaffins (LCCPs; i.e. polychlorinated octadecanes and longer alkanes). CP mixtures are extremely complex, each consisting of thousands of individual compounds. The current annual production of CPs is almost as high as the cumulative global production volume of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from 1929 until their worldwide ban when PCBs were classified as POPs. As a consequence the global production rate of CPs (~13 million tons) is about ten-fold higher than the one of PCBs.

Here we report on the occurrence of CPs in German kitchen households. Determination of CPs in fat deposits of kitchen hoods and in dish cloths (after regular use) eventually guided us to one of the main sources for indoor pollution with CPs. MCCPs, which are currently unregulated (no restriction in use) played the most important role, while SCCPs, which soon will be classified POPs, only played a minor role. Our data indicates that inhalation of contaminated indoor air may contribute more to the human exposure to CPs than contaminated food.

 

14:40h - Oral Presentation (20 minutes each Speaker)

Speakers: 3 undergraduate / graduate students

 

15:40h - Coffee-break

 

16:00h – Conference: EcoNutrition: Integrating health and environment towards sustainability

Speakers: Dr. Fernanda Abadio Finco, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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16:40h - Conference: Suriname inventory report of PFOS & related substances and other fluorinated substances such as PFAS “The beauty and dirty beasts”

Speaker: Dr. Victorine Pinas, Anton De Kom University, Suriname 

 

17:20h – Closing ceremony

Speaker: Olaf Malm