Identifying Adaptation Options and Constraints: The Role of Agronomist Knowledge in Catchment Management Strategy

Water suppliers in parts of Europe currently face occasional Drinking Water Directive compliance challenges for a number of pesticide active substances including metal- dehyde, clopyralid and propyzamide. Water Framework Directive (WFD) Article 7 promotes a prevention-led (catchment management) approach to such issues. At the same time, European pesticide legislation is driving reduced active substance availability. In this context, embedding agronomic drivers of pesticide use into catchment management and regulatory decision making processes can help to ensure that water quality problems are addressed at source without imposition of disproportionate cost on either agriculture or potable water suppliers. In this study agronomist knowledge, perception and expectations of current and possible future pesticide use was assessed and the significance of this knowledge to other stakeholders involved with pesticide catchment management was evaluated. This was then used to provide insight into the possible impacts of active substance restrictions and associated adaptation options. For many arable crops, further restrictions on the range of pesticides available may cause increased use of alternatives (with potential for "pollution swapping"). However, in many cases alternatives are not available, too costly or lack a proven track record and other adaptation options may be selected which catchment managers need to be able to anticipate

A solvent-free method for spiking terrestrial algae (Desmococcus spp.) with pyrene for use in bioassays.

Two methods for spiking terrestrial algae (Desmococcus spp., used as a foodstuff in bioassays with Collembola) with pyrene were tested; a "traditional" method that used a carrier solution of pyrene in acetone, and a solvent-free method developed using the principles of partition driven administration (PDA). The PDA method used a pre-spiked, highly-contaminated

Urinary PAH metabolites as biomarkers of exposure in aquatic environments.

While immunoassays have been extensively applied to evaluate environmental contamination, to date they have rarely been used for the analysis of biological fluids outside of human medicine. These media are important because pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their metabolites become concentrated in tissues, body fluids, and excreta, thereby offering a measure of exposure to biologically available contaminants. Such analyses also provide a nondestructive tool for monitoring exposure. Crabs (Carcinus maenas) were exposed to phenanthrene and pyrene (separately) at concentrations ranging from 0 to 200 μg