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Project Summary

Pharmaceutical compounds are considered emerging pollutants of priority concern, due to their ubiquity in the aquatic environment and to their potential to elicit biological effects even at low concentrations. Given increased use and continuous release of pharmaceutical residues to surrounding waters, mainly from wastewater treatment plants, they are also considered persistent or pseudopersistent contaminants; hence the expression 'medicating the environment' (sensu Arnold et al. 2014).

Yet, present research still faces significant knowledge gaps, particularly concerning bioaccumulation and effects of long-term and mixture exposure in the biota. The information is even scanter when considering organisms in the marine and coastal environment.

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In this context, assessing the effects of pharmaceutical residues in the estuarine environment is of paramount importance towards effective management and achieving environmental quality standards.

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Project grant funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/MAR-EST/3048/2014

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Objectives

The main objective of this project is to develop an integrative framework for assessing population-level effects of long-term exposure to pharmaceuticals as pollutants of emerging concern in the estuarine environment, scaling up from individual effects.

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Specifically, we aim to:

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1. determine the degree of pharmaceuticals bioaccumulation and trophic transfer in the estuarine environment;

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2. assess individual deleterious effects of long-term exposure to pharmaceuticals in non target fish species, and screen for new or more specific biomarkers of effects and/or exposure to selected pharmaceuticals;

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3. estimate population-level effects of long-term exposure to pharmaceuticals, scaling up from individual responses, to produce an ecologically relevant framework.

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Project Outputs

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Scientific Publications

Fonseca, V.F., and Reis-Santos, P. (2020). Ecotoxicology of pharmaceuticals in coastal and marine organisms. In Ecotoxicology of Marine Organisms, B. Duarte and I. Caçador, eds. (Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group), pp. 158-184.

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Duarte, I.A., Reis-Santos, P., Franca, S., Cabral, H., and Fonseca, V.F. (2017). Biomarker responses to environmental contamination in estuaries: A comparative multi-taxa approach. Aquat Toxicol 189, 31-41.

 

Reis-Santos, P., Pais, M., Duarte, B., Cacador, I., Freitas, A., Vila Pouca, A.S., Barbosa, J., Leston, S., Rosa, J., Ramos, F., et al. (2018b). Screening of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals in estuarine waters: A baseline assessment for the Tejo estuary. Marine pollution bulletin 135, 1079-1084.

 

Reis-Santos, P., Vasconcelos, R.P., Tanner, S.E., Fonseca, V.F., Cabral, H.N., and Gillanders, B.M. (2018a). Extrinsic and intrinsic factors shape the ability of using otolith chemistry to characterize estuarine environmental histories. Marine environmental research 140, 332-341.

 

Gaspar, A.F., Santos, L., Rosa, J., Leston, S., Barbosa, J., Vila Pouca, A.S., Freitas, A., and Ramos, F. (2019). Development and validation of a multi-residue and multi-class screening method of 44 antibiotics in salmon (Salmo salar) using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry: Application to farmed salmon. Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences 1118-1119, 78-84.

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Santos, L., Rosa, J., Freitas, A., Leston, S., Barbosa, J., and Ramos, F. (2019). Detection and quantification of 47 antibiotic residues in farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) using a multi-class and multi-residue UHPLC-MS/MS method. Food additives & contaminants. Part A, Chemistry, analysis, control, exposure & risk assessment 36, 561-570.

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Cabral, H., Fonseca, V., Sousa, T., and Costa Leal, M. (2019). Synergistic Effects of Climate Change and Marine Pollution: An Overlooked Interaction in Coastal and Estuarine Areas. International journal of environmental research and public health 16.

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Duarte, B., Prata, D., Matos, A.R., Cabrita, M.T., Cacador, I., Marques, J.C., Cabral, H.N., Reis-Santos, P., and Fonseca, V.F. (2019). Ecotoxicity of the lipid-lowering drug bezafibrate on the bioenergetics and lipid metabolism of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. The Science of the total environment 650, 2085-2094.

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Duarte, I.A., Pais, M.P., Reis-Santos, P., Cabral, H.N., and Fonseca, V.F. (2019). Biomarker and behavioural responses of an estuarine fish following acute exposure to fluoxetine. Marine environmental research 147, 24-31.

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Fonseca, V.F., França, S., Duarte, B., Caçador, I., Cabral, H.N., Mieiro, C.L., Coelho, J.P., Pereira, E., and Reis-Santos, P. (2019). Spatial Variation in Mercury Bioaccumulation and Magnification in a Temperate Estuarine Food Web. Frontiers in Marine Science 6.

 

França, S., and Cabral, H.N. (2019). Distribution models of estuarine fish species: The effect of sampling bias, species ecology and threshold selection on models' accuracy. Ecological Informatics 51, 168-176.

 

Duarte, I.A., Reis-Santos, P., Novais, S.C., Rato, L.D., Lemos, M.F.L., Freitas, A., Pouca, A.S.V., Barbosa, J., Cabral, H.N., and Fonseca, V.F. (2020). Depressed, hypertense and sore: Long-term effects of fluoxetine, propranolol and diclofenac exposure in a top predator fish. The Science of the total environment 712, 136564.

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Fonseca, V.F., Reis-Santos, P., Duarte, B., Cabral, H.N., Caçador, M.I., Vaz, N., Dias, J.M., and Pais, M.P. (2020) Roving pharmacies: Modelling the dispersion of pharmaceutical contamination in estuaries. Ecological Indicators 115.

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Feijão, E.; Cruz de Carvalho, R., Duarte, I.A., Matos, A.R. et al. (2020) Fluoxetine Arrests Growth of the Model Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum by Increasing Oxidative Stress and Altering Energetic and Lipid Metabolism. Frontiers in Microbiology 11, 1-17.
 

Lopes, D.G., Duarte, I.A., Antunes, M., Fonseca, V.F. (2020) Effects of antidepressants in the reproduction of aquatic organisms: a meta-analysis. Aquatic Toxicology 227.

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Silva, M., Feijão, E., Cruz de Carvalho, R., Duarte, I.A. et al. (2020) Comfortably numb: Ecotoxicity of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen on Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Marine Environmental Research 161.

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Scientific Communications

Fonseca VF, Reis-Santos P, Cabral HN. A meta-analysis of the ecotoxicological effects of pharmaceuticals on aquatic organisms, 30th ESCBP, Barcelona, Spain, 2016.

 

Duarte I, Reis-Santos P, França S, Cabral H, Fonseca VF. Comparative analysis of biomarker responses to environmental contamination in estuaries: a multi-taxa approach. ESCBP 2016, Barcelona, Spain 2016.

 

Freitas A, Vila Pouca AS, Barbosa J, Reis-Santos P, Pais MP, Cabral HN, Fonseca VF, Rosa J, Leston S, Ramos F. Analytical approach to access environmental contamination by UHPLC-TOF-MS. 8th International symposium on Hormone and Veterinary Drug Residue Analysis; Ghent, Belgium, May 2018.

 

Pais MP, Reis-Santos P, Cabral HN, Fonseca VF. Extrapolating population effects of pharmaceuticals in estuarine fish: the BIOPHARMA project. International Society Ecological Modelling Conference ISEM 2017, Jeju, Korea. September 2017.

 

Leston S, Freitas A, Vila Pouca AS, Rosa J, Barbosa J, Ramos F, Reis-Santos P, Pais MP, Cabral HN, Fonseca VF. Occurrence of selected pharmaceuticals in the Tejo Estuary. RAFA 2017 - Recent Advances in Food Analysis, Prague, Czech Republic, November 2017.

 

Fonseca VF, Duarte IA, Cabral HN, Gillanders BM, Reis-Santos P. Toxicology of pharmaceuticals to aquatic organisms: a meta-analysis of effects on development and reproduction. SETAC Europe 28th Annual Meeting, Italy, May 2018.

 

Duarte B, Matos AR, Cabrita MT, Marques JC, Caçador I, Reis-Santos P, Cabral H, Fonseca VF. Bio-Optical probing of Bezafibrate toxicity in model marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. SETAC Europe 28th Annual Meeting, Italy, May 2018.

 

Duarte IA, Pais MP, Reis-Santos P, Cabral HN, Fonseca VF. Short-term effects of fluoxetine exposure on biomarker and behavioural responses of an estuarine fish. SETAC Europe 28th Annual Meeting, Italy, May 2018.

 

Leston S, Freitas A, Vila Pouca AS, Rosa J, Barbosa J, Ramos F, Reis-Santos P, Duarte IA, Pais MP, Reis-Santos P, Cabral HN, Fonseca VF.  Environmental assessment of multi-class pharmaceutical residues In the Tejo estuary. SETAC Europe 28th Annual Meeting, Italy, May 2018.

 

Duarte IA, Pais MP, Reis-Santos P, Cabral HN, Fonseca VF. Population effects of pharmaceuticals in estuarine fish: the BIOPHARMA project. CICTA2018 - 11th Iberian and 8th Ibero-American congress of environmental pollution and toxicology, Madrid, Spain 2018.

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Duarte IA, Pais MP, Reis-Santos P, Cabral HN, Fonseca VF. Biomarker responses of an estuarine fish following acute exposure to an antidepressant. CICTA2018 - 11th Iberian and 8th Ibero-American congress of environmental pollution and toxicology, Madrid, Spain, 2018.

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Pais, MP, Reis-Santos, P, Duarte, IA, Vaz, N, Marques, GM, Fonseca, VF. Pharmaceuticals on estuarine fish populations: Modelling potential effects from the organism to the ecosystem. Modelling Conference ISEM, October 2019, Salzburg, Austria.


Duarte IA, Reis-Santos P, Duarte, B, Rato, LD, Novais, SC, Lemos, MFL, Silva, MS, Cordeiro, C, Fonseca, VF. Long-term effects of fluoxetine, propranolol and diclofenac exposure in a top predator fish. SEB conference, July 2019, Seville, Spain.


Mieiro, CL, França, S, Duarte, B, Caçador, I, Cabral, HN, Coelho, JP, Pereira, E, Reis-Santos, P, Fonseca, VF. Spatial variation in mercury bioaccumulation and magnification in a temperate estuarine food-web. CHEERS Conference, November 2019, Bordeaux, France.


Duarte IA, Reis-Santos P, Cabral, HN, Duarte, B, Rato, LD, Novais, SC, Lemos, MFL, Silva, MS, Cordeiro, C, Fonseca, VF. Long-term effects of fluoxetine, propranolol and diclofenac exposure in a top predator fish. CHEERS Conference, November 2019, Bordeaux, France.


Matos, AR, Feijão, E, Cruz de Carvalho, R, Duarte, I, Cabrita, MT, Caçador, I, Reis-Santos, P, Fonseca, V, Duarte, B. Fatty acids as biomarkers of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) toxicity in the model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. CHEERS Conference, November 2019, Bordeaux, France.


Fonseca, VF. Pharmaceuticals in estuaries: the Biopharma project. CHEERS Conference, November 2019, Bordeaux, France.

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Awards

Miguel P. Pais won the best poster award at The International Society for Ecological Modelling Global Conference 2017 (Jeju, Korea) with the work titled:  Population effects of pharmaceuticals in estuarine fish: the BIOPHARMA project.

 

Irina A. Duarte won the best student presentation at CICTA2018 - 11th Iberian and 8th Ibero-American congress of environmental pollution and toxicology (Madrid, Spain) with the work titled: Biomarker responses of an estuarine fish following acute exposure to an antidepressant.

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In the News

https://ciencias.ulisboa.pt/pt/noticia/12-09-2018/tejo-com-32-f%C3%A1rmacos

 

https://observador.pt/2018/09/12/investigadores-detetam-32-farmacos-nas-aguas-do-tejo/

 

https://www.publico.pt/2018/09/12/ciencia/noticia/investigadores-detectam-32-farmacos-nas-aguas-do-tejo-1843855

 

https://www.dn.pt/vida-e-futuro/interior/investigadores-detetam-32-farmacos-nas-aguas-do-tejo-9836514.html

 

http://www.tvi24.iol.pt/sociedade/ambiente/32-farmacos-detetados-nas-aguas-do-rio-tejo

 

https://ionline.sapo.pt/625727

 

https://sol.sapo.pt/artigo/625728/investigadores-encontram-32-farmacos-nas-aguas-do-tejo

 

https://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/pais/2018-09-12-Investigadores-detetam-presenca-de-32-medicamentos-nas-aguas-do-Tejo

 

http://www.zerozero.pt/news_rss.php?id=78465

 

https://www.cmjornal.pt/sociedade/detalhe/20180912_1709_investigadores-detetam-32-farmacos-nas-aguas-do-tejo

 

https://24.sapo.pt/atualidade/artigos/investigadores-detetam-32-farmacos-nas-aguas-do-tejo

 

https://www.publico.pt/2018/09/21/sociedade/noticia/so-17-das-embalagens-e-restos-de-medicamentos-foram-entregues-nos-locais-adequados-1844764

 

http://www.oeirasdigital.pt/noticias/saude/detetados-32-farmacos-nas-aguas-do-tejo/

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Interviews

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https://www.publico.pt/2018/09/19/ciencia/noticia/criado-um-material-poroso-que-captura-farmacos-na-agua-1844342

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http://www.rtp.pt/antena1/podcasts/os-dias-do-futuro_9148  

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https://www.jn.pt/local/noticias/lisboa/lisboa/interior/investigadores-detetam-32-farmacos-nas-aguas-do-tejo-9836632.html

Events

Workshop - Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) modelling and pollutants of emerging concern. 13th December 2019, Lisbon, FCUL.

Registration required, email vffonseca@fc.ul.pt

Research Team

MARE

Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre

 

Vanessa F. Fonseca (PI)

Patrick Reis-Santos

Miguel P. Pais

Susana França

Irina A. Duarte

Henrique N. Cabral

Sara Novais

 

INIAV

Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária

 

Andreia Freitas

Ana S.P. Vila Pouca

Rita Barbosa

Sílvia Barros

Jorge Barbosa

 

CEF & CNC - University of Coimbra

 

Sara Leston

João Rosa

Fernando Ramos

 

CESAM - University of Aveiro

 

M. Eduarda Pereira

Joana Coimbra

Cláudia Mieiro

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