While development of nano-enabled agricultural chemicals is proceeding apace, properties of these manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) in the environment make predicting their fate in soils impossible using the risk assessment framework for traditional chemicals. This project will modify the existing fate modelling paradigms by systematically determining how agricultural MNM properties, applied concentration, spatial distribution and temporal behaviour in different soil types, influence MNM uptake by important crop plants, toxicity, multigenerational effects on soil organisms, bioaccumulation/trophic transfer, and potential for ecological impacts.  We will also develop necessary methods to track and characterize MNMs in soil at realistic concentrations, and develop a simple test for measuring dissolution rate and distribution between soil pore water and solids to predict the observed fate and effects, key assays for validating theoretical relationships developed herein.

CESAM members on this project

Armando da Costa Duarte
Researcher

Joana Tavares Neves
PhD Student

Maria Pavlaki
Research Fellow

Researcher

Rui Guilherme da Costa Morgado
Researcher

Sandra Rodrigues
Research Fellow

Sónia Alexandra Morais Rodrigues
Researcher

Susana Patrícia Mendes Loureiro
Coordinator