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.

As preliminary results, negative lethal effects of the exposure to 6PPD-quinone on growth, reproduction and development have been observed. The effects of the exposure to this antioxidant are accentuated by the effect of the increased temperature. Thus, climate change may worsen the negative effects of the contaminant and compromise the survival of R. balthica populations in polluted aquatic systems.