ILEE Lunch Seminar ! THURSDAY ! 3/10

Invited Speaker - we have an external guest!

Mirco Bundschuh (Functional Aquatic Ecotoxicology; University Koblenz-Landau)

Mirco Bundschuh follows an invitation by Frederik De Laender (URBE) in the context of his NARC fellowship to talk about ecotoxicological research. He is well aware that ILEE aggregates very different disciplines - so come and listen!

Horizontal and vertical interactions in aquatic food webs under chemical stress
Chemical stressors are increasingly recognized as drivers for food web changes. At the same time, mechanisms indirectly leading to effects at higher trophic levels in aquatic food webs (horizontal vs. vertical interactions) are not well understood. With this presentation, I will discuss the impact of chemicals on the base of heterotrophic food webs, namely communities of heterotrophic microorganisms (mainly bacteria and fungi) that colonize detritus (such as leaves) and how these communities adapt to chemical exposures. I will also highlight what the consequent modifications in community composition mean for the ecosystem functions these microorganisms perform. The central ecosystem functions are, besides the decomposition of organic material, the provisioning of nutrients and energy to higher trophic levels feeding on detritus. The latter function is triggered by the softening of leaf tissue as well as the production and concentration of essential nutrients such amino and fatty acids. Although, still at its infancy, I will close with an outlook on the potential bottom-up or top-down directed effects induced in terrestrial food webs as a consequence of chemical stress driven changes in heterotrophic aquatic systems through cross ecosystem subsidy.

Please order your sandwich before Wednesday 2nd, 18h!!
carolin.mayer@unamur.be

Sandwich list here

Note: The next ILEE lunch seminar will be on Tuesday, 5th of November 2019!