News

The 34th Annual SETAC Europe Meeting, held in Seville in May, brought together experts and stakeholders from around the world and provided a platform for robust discussions and the exchange of knowledge on urgent environmental issues.

Our colleagues at ICRA have been conducting experiments under controlled conditions to understand the impact of pollutants on algae and biofilm communities. In this particular study, a planktonic algae and benthic biofilm communities were exposed to acute concentrations of various urban pollutants present in urban runoff.

On January 25th, members of the CityPoll Project gathered in Barcelona to discuss and update relevant information about the project. Throughout the day, various updates were presented by the different member institutions.

Last Saturday, January 13th, ICRA conducted an outreach activity during the basketball game between Bàsquet Girona and Zunder Palència. Throughout the event, we showcased some of ICRA’s ongoing projects and highlighted completed ones.

A few days ago, our Basque colleagues conducted a runoff water sampling as the necessary meteorological conditions finally came together for their studies! This experiment focuses on studying the impact of urban pollution on fauna and ecosystem functions.

The filming company ElHuyar takes center stage in the recordings conducted for the documentary being prepared as part of the CityPoll project. The filming aims to encompass the entire project, whether through field sampling, conducting ecotoxicology experiments, modelling, or relevant stakeholders.

On November 13th, experts and municipal authorities gathered at the City Hall of Donostia (Basque Country) to discuss the progress, results, and new milestones of the CityPoll project. This event underscores the importance of collaboration between academic and governmental institutions to effectively address urban environmental challenges, emphasizing common interests in nature-based solutions (NBS).

A collaboration between Donosti’s firefighters and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) team has successfully carried out an urban rainfall simulation. The purpose behind this partnership was to sample the water flowing through the city streets, with the aim of analyzing the contaminants it carries.

Last week Catalina Lizama defended her Final Master’s Project in the Universitat de Barcelona. In this project a chronic microcosm exposure experiment was carried out to identify the effects of the exposure to 6PPD-quinone (30 µg/L) on the freshwater gastropod Radix balthica at two different temperatures, 15 and 20°C. The endpoints analyzed were mortality, growth, mobility, reproduction and embryonic development.

On June 2nd, all members of the CityPoll project (@ehustream, @biology_unibarcelona, and @icrawater) convened in Barcelona. This meeting served as an opportunity to discuss, debate, and exchange information, as well as to showcase their progress and outline the new goals to achieve for the project’s future.