2023.09.06
Category: News
2023.08.30
COST webinars invitation
Dear colleagues
please find attached the invitation to the first two webinars organized as part of the COST action CA21134. Please share the information on your institution’s websites and with your contacts.
Kind regards
Renata Bažok
COST webinar schedule- September 2023
- September 13th 2023: 14:00-15:00
Renata Bažok: Area –wide pest control in field crops as a method to reduce pest pressure
Ivana Pajač Živković: The use of automatic pest monitoring systems in sustainable pest management in apple production under changing climatic conditions
- September 27th 2023: 14:00-15:00
Christian Andreasen: Using laser beams to control weeds
Merve Wollweber: Laser treatment for weed management and for control of herbivorous insects
Join the webinar on the link:
Best regards,
COST Association
2023.08.11
Biodiversity in Europe’s freshwaters is under threat – scientists call for action
After years of improvement, biodiversity in Europe’s freshwaters has stagnated since 2010. This situation has been assessed by an international team of scientists, including for the first time Dr Nathan Baker from the Lithuanian Nature Research Centre. The study aimed to investigate the change in invertebrate biodiversity in freshwaters in 22 European countries between 1968 and 2020. The results of the study are now published in the prestigious journal Nature.
The researchers analysed data from more than 26,000 samples of more than 700,000 invertebrates. The study showed that biodiversity in Europe initially showed a significant increase of almost 1% per year, but this only lasted until 2010, when the recovery of invertebrate populations stalled, and has not improved to date. Scientists are calling on countries to take additional measures to increase biodiversity, as the negative impacts on rivers and lakes from pollution, invasive animals and climate change continue unabated.
“This is a unique study, both because of its size and because it examines not only the diversity of organisms, but also the functions that these different organisms perform. This information will help us in our future attempts to conserve these organisms and to reduce the negative consequences of their extinction, which affect us all,” said Dr Nathan Baker, a scientist at the Nature Research Centre who took part in the study. This is the first time that a Lithuanian Nature Research Centre scientist has taken part in a study of this level, the results of which have been published in the world’s most respected journal in the life sciences community.
Invertebrates – the basis for water quality monitoring
Although invertebrates may seem unimportant or even discouraging, they actually perform very important functions. “They contribute to important ecosystem processes in freshwater bodies. They break down organic matter, filter water and transfer nutrients between water and the terrestrial environment. Such invertebrates have long been the basis for monitoring water quality,” explains the study’s first author, Dr Peter Haase, Professor at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt.
Pollution, climate change and invasive species are the biggest threats
The most popular invertebrates are mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies. They have two life phases – aquatic and terrestrial. In their aquatic phase, they are known as larvae. Studying larvae can provide a lot of information about the state of a river’s water – when water quality deteriorates, the diversity of these and other invertebrates decreases, and the ecosystem as a whole suffers. Human activities such as pesticide use, sewage, obstructions and the introduction of invasive animals are the main contributors to the deterioration of inland waters.
Scientists point out that we have been in a similar situation and can learn from it. “In the 1950s and 1960s, the US and the European Union took steps to restore freshwater biodiversity, reducing organic pollution and acidification in the 1980s,” recalls Dr Ellen A.R. Welti, one of the main initiators of the study and a scientist at the Smithsonian Center in the US, who urges us to keep on working and not to give up: “The positive change created by these measures at the time is diminishing as the influence of negative environmental factors increases.”
Invasive invertebrates are replacing native invertebrates in Lithuania
The scientists note that the native biodiversity of rivers is being reduced by the spread of invasive species. “Almost 70% of the sites monitored have invasive species. Invasive species are more likely to be able to adapt to negative factors such as pollution or high temperatures than native fauna,” notes Dr Ellen Welti.
Dr Nathan Baker points out that Lithuanian rivers also contain invasive animals, such as several species of invasive Amphipoda: “some were introduced during the Soviet era to enrich fish food resources. If climate change and its impacts continue to affect Lithuania’s rivers, invasive species will spread, and new ones will appear. Therefore, in addition to pollution and climate change, the spread of invasive animals pose new challenges for biodiversity conservation.”
Proposed measures
The scientists suggest measures such as expanding sewage networks, improving wastewater management, protecting stormwater systems from flooding during heavy rains, more effective separation of micropollutants, reducing the use of fertilisers and pesticides, and building resilience to the damaging effects of flooding.
Lithuania has not yet been included in the study, but Dr Nathan Baker, a researcher at the Nature Research Centre, is currently analyzing the Lithuanian data. “The research will allow us to see trends in biodiversity in Lithuania, interpret the data in a European context, and prevent species loss in the future”. Of all the factors contributing to biodiversity loss, Dr Nathan Baker believes that climate change poses one of the greatest risks in Lithuania: “the impact of climate change on biodiversity is more pronounced in cold regions, putting animals that have adapted to the cold at greater risk”.
The scientists conclude that the measures to combat biodiversity loss should not be the same everywhere. Biodiversity changes are not the same everywhere in Europe, so different measures need to be adapted in places where biodiversity is most at risk, such as the colder regions, which are more affected by climate change. “In the future, biodiversity monitoring should be tightly coupled with the concurrent collection of environmental data. This is the only way we can effectively describe temporal changes within biodiversity, identify environmental drivers and high-risk areas, and maximize biodiversity protection!” concludes Prof. Dr. Haase, the study’s first author.
For more information, see the scientific paper at the link:
2023.07.12
The International Symposium on Isotope Hydrology: Sustainable Water Resources in a Changing World
On 2–7 July 2023, Vienna, Austria, hosted an international symposium on isotope hydrology “The International Symposium on Isotope Hydrology: Sustainable Water Resources in a Changing World” organised by IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). Oral and poster presentations focused on the following topics: application of isotopes to investigate hydrosphere–atmosphere interactions; application of isotopes in water quality investigations to calculate water resource circulation; tritium as a tracer of hydrological processes; achievements in iinert gas application to date groundwater; development of isotope analysis methods; isotopes in groundwater hydrology; integration of isotope parameters into advanced modelling techniques; understanding of surface- and groundwater interactions by using isotope tracers; isotope application to investigate climate change; role of isotope hydrology for water resource management. Žana Skuratovič and Olga Jefanova, Researchers at NRC Laboratory of Nuclear Geophysics and Radioecology, delivered a presentation “Natural (Background) and Anthropogenic Level of Tritium in the Surface Water of Lithuania Related to Operation of Belarusian NPP”.
More information on the symposium is available at: https://www.iaea.org/events/isih2023
2023.07.05
Nataliia Matviienko made a working visit to the Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health, and Environmental Protection “BIOR”
From June 5th to June 29th, 2023, as part of the implementation of the MSCA4Ukraine project, Nataliia Matviienko made a working visit to the Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health, and Environmental Protection “BIOR” in Riga, Latvia.
The “BIOR” Institute is a nationally significant research center that develops innovative research methods and creates new practically applicable knowledge in the following areas of science: public health and environmental protection, food, fisheries, and veterinary medicine. In its field of expertise, the BIOR Institute is a regional leader with excellent scientific and technical expertise and a well-developed human resource base.
During the visit, Nataliia Matviienko was acquainted with research on fish diseases conducted by Microbiology and Pathology Laboratory scientists. She also learned about the work of the Department for Fishery Research, whose main task is to ensure the implementation of the “Latvian National Fisheries Data Collection Program” funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, as well as the agreement on fishery research in Latvia with the Ministry of Agriculture through the collection, compilation, and analysis of biological, fishery, and economic data.
The Department of Inland Waters and Fish Stocking, as part of the Department for Fishery Research, conducts research on fish in Latvia’s inland waters (rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water). The main research directions are related to the assessment of fish stocks’ condition natural reproduction of migratory fish, as well as the impact of fishing, fishery, and environmental conditions on fish stocks and biodiversity. The Department collects and stores data on fishing, fishery, and fish farming in Latvia. It provides scientific advice on aquaculture by its competence.
As part of her work, Nataliia Matviienko had the opportunity to visit the scientific and educational center for fish farming, “Tome,” which is the largest place for breeding salmon in Latvia and the Baltic Sea region. The fish farm releases about 550 000 salmon and sea trout smolts, 150 000 salmon and sea trout single summer fries, and 350 000 sander and whitefish fries in the waters of Latvia annually. Fries of steelhead trout sturgeon and carp are cultivated for the needs of private hatcheries and pond owners. Apart from that, the breeding bank of brown trout, whitefish, and sturgeon (sterlet, Siberian sturgeon, and bester) is maintained and cultivated for further maintenance of fries.
She also visited the fish farm ” Pelči,” and “Brasla”. The fish farm ” Pelči,” whose main task is the reproduction of salmon fish stocks in the Venta River basin. The hatchery breeds and releases about 200 000 salmon and sea trout smolts and fries in the basin of the river Venta annually. Additionally, the hatchery breeds sander, freshwater cod, carp, and steelhead trout fries as well as pike and lamprey maggots.
The fish farm “Brasla” is the renewal of the resources of sea trout in the basin of the river Gauja. The hatchery breeds and releases in the basin of the river Gauja about 200 000 sea trout smolts and fries annually. The hatchery breeds also steelhead trout fries and lamprey maggots.
During the visit with the research institute plans and prospects for the research
2023.07.03
Admission to studies
2023.06.22
Round table “Environmental and legal aspects of the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP by russians”
By June 22, fill out a short questionnaire: https://forms.gle/9TkE444L9KTc9MKz5
Nature Research Centre scientists and Ph.D. students attended the Scandinavian-Baltic Society for Parasitology conference
A group of scientists and Ph.D. students from the Nature Research Centre (NRC) participated in the 10th Conference of the Scandinavian-Baltic Society for Parasitology (SBSP) in Tartu, Estonia, on 5-7 June 2023. The theme of the conferences was – Parasites and hosts in a shared environment. Lithuanian Ph.D. students and scientists from the P.B. Šivickis Parasitology Laboratory, Entomology, Molecular Ecology and Mammalian Ecology Laboratories presented 17 scientific presentations on species and genetic diversity, co-infections, vectors, host-parasite-microbiota interactions and other ecological aspects of parasites in fish, amphibians, birds and mammals.102 scientists from 17 countries attended the conference.
During the pre-conference symposium, dr. Carolina Chagas and dr. Vaidas Palinauskas gave presentations to young scientists about research careers and the NRC’s “Early Career Researchers Committee”. During the conference, Ph.D. student Ivanna Dmytriieva received the Audience Award for the best oral presentation, and German Liberato was awarded the best parasite photo in the “Golden Flea” competition.
At the end of the official conference program, during the SBSP General Assembly, V. Palinauskas completed his 10-year term as Vice President and NRC scientist, dr. Olena Kudlai was elected as the new Lithuanian representative and SBSP Secretary.
For more information about the conference visit: https://csbsp10.emu.ee
2023.06.15
NRC early career researchers picnic
The annual NRC Early Career Researchers (ECR) Picnic, organized by the ECR Committee, took place on 2 June 2023. During the event, researchers met new Ph.D. students and postdoctoral trainees, got to know each other, discussed collaborative activities, engaged in activities to foster the ERC community, enjoyed good vibes, and got away from the routine. The ECR Committee presented the results of its first year’s activities, its plans for the future, and invited an open discussion on issues of concern.
The ECR Committee wished everyone a fruitful summer, successful expeditions, and many new discoveries.
ECR Committee
Photos by Justas Dainys
2023.06.13
Researchers of Laboratory of Ecotoxicology at 10th International Conference on Environmental Management, Engineering, Planning and Economics (CEMEPE) and SECOTOX Conference
On 5–9 June 2023, researchers of NRC’s Laboratory of Ecotoxicology participated in the 10th International Conference on Environmental Management, Engineering, Planning and Economics (CEMEPE) and SECOTOX Conference“ in Greece and presented results of their investigations.
Oral presentations:
Dr. Tomas Makaras „The effects of graphene-based nanomaterials on salmonids behaviour at their early stages of development“
Dr. Gintarė Sauliutė „Effects of oomycete pathogens in salmonid fish: exposure and recovery study“
Dr. Milda Stankevičiūtė „Characterization of genotoxicity and cytotoxicity of fungal-like organisms on rainbow trout larvae“
Dr. Roberta Valskienė „Cytogenetic effects of tire fire effluents on early life stages of Salmo trutta“
Doctoral student Mindaugas Kazlauskas „Effect of graphene oxide and metal mixture on test organisms of different trophic levels: toxicity and bioaccumulation of metals“
Poster presentations:
Dr. Nataliia Matviienko „Study of the protective potential of different groups bioactive substances to juvenile carp“
Doctoral student Renata Butrimienė „Effects of oral exposure of CdSe/ZnS-COOH quantum dots on gut microbiota and bioaccumulation in tissues of Salmo trutta fario“
More information is available at: https://cemepe10.civil.auth.gr/
Scientific research is conducted based on:
Project funded by the Research Council of Lithuania – MULTIS (No. S-MIP-21-10) and ARFA (No. S-MIP-22-51)
Project funded by EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – MSCA4Ukraine