GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Area A: better understanding the routes of exposure of the wild fauna and flora to chemical pollution Successful proposals should:

• Choose case studies, based on an analysis of chemical contaminations from an environmental history perspective, with representative species on which analysis will be undertaken. Addressing trophic chains is encouraged,
• Develop a method to establish the routes of contamination with chemicals. Priority should be given to cases with potential contamination with chemical pesticides and their metabolites; contaminants of emerging concern, including pharmaceuticals such as hormones and antibiotics, veterinary products and persistent e.g., bio-accumulative substances, SVHC (Substance of Very High Concern) and emerging pollutants. Other substances in particular micro- and nano-plastics are not excluded. Existing contaminations of the environment (legacy) especially from pesticides should also be considered. However industrial contamination is not in the scope of this topic;
• Establish the routes of contamination of the chosen representative species with chemicals, in the case studies,
• Assess the risks resulting from such contaminations for species, for ecosystems and for the local environment, including development of effect-based approach to consider mixture effects and synergies,
• In particular, establish models to link chemical ecotoxicity stress to damages on (a) genetic diversity, (b) functional diversity, and (c) ecosystem services.

Area B: pollinators and pesticides Successful proposals should:

• Characterise sources and routes of pesticide exposure in the key pollinator groups (wild bees, butterflies, hoverflies and moths),
• Investigate sensitivity of pollinators to pesticides and identify for each pollinator group sensitive species that: i) are suitable as test organisms in the risk assessment and ii) require safeguards that would indirectly protect other species within the same group (“umbrella effect”),
• Improve prediction of the toxicity endpoints, toxic units for chemicals and data poor compounds (e.g., Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models),
• Develop toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic data and models for single and multiple chemicals,
• Generate combined toxicity data (lethal and sublethal effects) of multiple chemicals, improving the availability of data in particular for: i) chronic combined toxicity that would make it possible to identify potential interactions that may lead to deviation from dose addition (potentiation, synergism) and ii) sublethal effects.
• Investigate synergistic effects of typical combinations of pesticides (e.g., based on residue data),
• Devise and test monitoring schemes for establishing the level of contamination of pollen/nectar/water/plant matrices/soil that can support benchmarking in a predictive risk assessment, development of risk indicators and a system-based risk assessment,
• Develop an open source curated database on pollinators and the use of pesticides which would include data and information on: i) exposure and hazard, ii) lethal and sublethal effects, toxicokinetics as well as other stressors (e.g., other chemicals, nutrition, etc.) that could amplify the adverse effects through interaction with pesticides,
• Develop methodologies for risk assessment in open-source tools including toxic units approaches using lethal and sublethal effects as well as validated in silico models applying dose addition as the default model or models integrating synergistic effects,
• Develop population models and landscape modelling for the risk assessment of multiple chemicals in pollinators with an aim to integrate hazard and exposure information.