2nd scientific meeting of the ANR JCJC CONTAMPUMP project "Plankton: biological pump of contaminants in marine ecosystems" organized at the MIO

The objective of the project is to improve the understanding of trophic transfers of contaminants (metals, Hg, MeHg, PCBs, pesticides, PAHs, alkanes) between water, plankton and planktonophages through transdisciplinary (biology, ecology, chemistry, modeling) and multi-tool approaches.

The members of the project discussed in videoconference and face-to-face the preliminary results of the analyses of CONTAMPUMP (WP1 - temporal monitoring of 18 months in the Bay of Marseille started in June 2020), the HIPPOCAMPE campaign (WP2 - spatial monitoring from North to South of the Mediterranean) and the implementation of the updated Ecopath model for the Gulf of Lion for trophic modeling of contaminant transfers (EwE ECOTRACER).

Monthly sampling of CONTAMPUMP will continue until November 2021 at the SOLEMIO-SOMLIT station in the bay of Marseille on board ANTEDON II. Pump sampling for different phytoplankton size classes, with Hydrobios nets for zooplankton size classes and underwater sampling (sediment, mussels, mysidaceae) are also carried out for taxonomic and contaminant analyses.

The results of the project should provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of trophic transfer of contaminants in a coastal environment subjected to various anthropogenic activities. They will thus provide knowledge to managers to help improve the monitoring and management of marine coastal systems.