Research project Synthetic chemicals as a cause of biodiversity loss

Industrial and agricultural discharges cause rivers to be exposed to mixtures of synthetic chemicals. It is unclear to what extent biodiversity is being affected by its cocktail effect. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) was adopted to assess the chemical and ecological status of European freshwater bodies with environmental quality standards of 45 priority substances. However, the WFD is limited because of an incomplete assessment of the chemical and ecological status. In this project, the limited knowledge of how biodiversity is affected by chemicals will be addressed where ecology and ecotoxicology are integrated. Modelled mixture toxicity pressure from 1786 synthetic compounds will be linked to available biodiversity data. Results will reveal to what degree and which synthetic chemicals are responsible for biodiversity loss. The ambition is to strengthen the bridge between scientific evidence and water management policies to help create a toxic-free environment.