2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/20/2019 | 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM | ARE ECOLOGICAL THREATS POSED BY PHARMACEUTICAL POLLUTION CONTEXT DEPENDANT? | 251 AB
ARE ECOLOGICAL THREATS POSED BY PHARMACEUTICAL POLLUTION CONTEXT DEPENDANT?
The relentless onslaught of pharmaceutical contaminants that streams and rivers are subjected to is fast becoming a serious global environmental problem because of the highly uncertain consequences for ecological and human health. Medications, such as antidepressants, beta-blockers, antibiotics and antihistamines are constantly dispersed into the environment largely by inadequacies in wastewater treatment processes or sewage infrastructure. Concentrations of pharmaceuticals are often greater in urban areas because of higher loads of wastewater effluent. Once in the environment, pharmaceuticals are frequently detected as complex mixtures of multiple compounds and numerous drugs are resistant to degradation. We conducted a replicated artificial stream experiment to test the effects of pharmaceuticals and other common urban chemical stressors such as salt and nutrients on stream ecosystem structure and function, including macroinvertebrate communities. Our results suggest that pharmaceutical effects are dependent on environmental context and that urban chemical stressors may increase the potency of pharmaceutical pollution.
- Algae
- Ecotoxicology
- Pollution
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Presenters/Authors
Erinn Richmond
(), Monash University , erinn.richmond@monash.edu;
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Sylvia Lee
(), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, lee.sylvia@epa.gov;
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Alexander Reisinger
(), University of Florida, reisingera@ufl.edu;
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Emma Rosi
(), Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, rosie@caryinstitute.org;
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