Minutes of the SETAC Global Soil Advisory Group (GSAG) meeting at the 23rd SETAC
Europe Meeting in Glasgow
Date: 14th May 2013
Attendees: see attached list
Opening
1. GSAG organization and status
Kees van Gestel mentioned that the GSAG now has its own page on the SETAC website.
Everybody interested in receiving information on the activities of GSAG should sign up for
this page. The page also enables sending e-mails to all GSAG members, which could be
useful in case of question, seeking advice on discussion points etc.
Action for all GSAG members: inform and stimulate colleagues to sign up for the
GSAG on the SETAC website.
2. Soil sessions at the Annual meetings
There was a discussion about the visibility of the topic “soil” at the SETAC Europe meeting
in Glasgow since most of the times it was not fully clear what to expect from the title of
sessions. The opinions were a bit divided, between wishing to have “soil” added to the session
titles and not necessarily. The cons would be that then any topic would then have to be
divided according to the compartment of interest (soil, water, sediment), and this would not be
needed or advantageous. The members see the advantage of merging the test media within the
session topics but miss some better clarification of the sessions’ content.
Another related opinion was that sessions could benefit from a better organization of the talks
per topic: it was noticed e.g. that two very similar soil talks within one of the bigger sessions
were separated by a day. Additionally, similar session topics such as “Soil ecotoxicology” and
“Sorption and bioavailability of organic chemicals: mechanisms and application in risk
assessment and innovative treatments of polluted soils, sediments and waters” should be
scheduled on different days in the program.
It was suggested to have members of each Advisory Group (AG) in the Scientific Committee
(SC). Mónica Amorim transmitted the information from SETAC Europe Council that this is
actually already in place since this year. A further note to add is that AG chairs are part of the
Science Committee of SETAC Europe Council.
Adriaan Reinecke raised the issue of how to guarantee that soil is well represented in SETAC
Africa meeting. The SC is established and we should see if we can communicate with them.
Action GSAG steering committee: contact the SC of the SETAC Africa meeting
News from Regions: See also attached slides presented at the meeting.
United States
 A Terrestrial bioaccumulation workshop was held in January 2013, Miami, looking at
wildlife – soil exposure pathways (organic chemicals)
 The Workshop ´Ten years after EcoSSLs: from screening to clean-up´ (for metals and
metalloids) was held in September 2013
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Canada – Environment Canada
 A Guidance document on sampling and preparation of contaminated soil for biological
testing was released
 New plant and Collembola test methods using species relevant to the boreal and taiga
eco-zones are scheduled for release in 2013
 New test methods using oribatid mite and earthworm species relevant to Canadian
agronomic and boreal/taiga eco-zones will be completed in 2014 and 2015, respectively
 Continued research to validate a battery of soil microbial assays using chemical-spiking
and contaminant mixtures
 Method development of contaminant effects assessment in wetlands (marshes, fens and
bogs) is ongoing.
Asia
 In Australia, a National environmental protection measure for contaminate sites was
approved including soil-based bioavailability
 The SETAC Australasian meeting will be held in Melbourne (Sept 2013)
 A joint SETAC Asia Pacific / SETAC Australasia 2014 Conference will be held in
Adelaide, Australia (14-17th September, 2014; session proposals are welcomed)
Brazil/Latin America
 Publication of ABNT NBR ISO 16387. Soil quality – Effects of pollutants in
Enchytraeidae (Enchytraeus sp.) – Determination of effects on reproduction and
survival (November 2012).
 Publication of a book on Earthworm Ecotoxicological Testing (in Portuguese): Cíntia
Carla Niva & George Gardner Brown (Eds.)
 Soil atlas for South America (Incl. Soil biodiversity) in prep. by JRC
In Brazil, ISO guidelines are translated to Portuguese by the ABNT Special Committee for
Ecotoxicological Studies (done or in progress):
 ABNT NBR ISO 16387. Soil quality – Effects of pollutants in Enchytraeidae
(Enchytraeus sp.) – Determination of effects on reproduction and survival (November
2012).
 ABNT NBR 15537:2007 Acute toxicity. Test with earthworms (with changes in the
recommended substrate, temperature and an appendix about Eisenia fetida and E.
andrei differences)
 ISO 11269-2:2009 Soil quality -- Determination of the effects of pollutants on soil flora
-- Part 2: Effects of chemicals on the emergence and growth of higher plants
The first meeting was held for a multi-institutional project to determine soil values for the
Brazilian States of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais
 May 2-3, 2013 (Workshop: Ecotoxicological tests with tropical soils – creating a
database for soil protection; 36 professionals from 13 institutions from different
localities in Brazil).
 Initiative of CETESB and FEAM, state environmental agencies, in response to
CONAMA 420/ 2009 (national resolution establishing standards for environmental
management of contaminated sites and determining reference values for contaminants in
soil).
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
Technical coordination: Jose Paulo Sousa (Univ. Coimbra, Portugal) and Joerg
Roembke (ECT Oekotoxikologie, Germany).
Africa
Current situation and new developments in Africa on soils in general brings some bad and
some good news:
 New initiatives to address loss of top soil as a result of erosion.
Much of Africa's soil is being depleted. A recent study has found three-quarters of Africa's
farmland is plagued by severe soil degradation. The fertility loss is caused partly by wind and
soil erosion and the loss of vital mineral nutrients. Soil erosion is often due to poor farming
practices (slash-and-burn farming techniques and serious overgrazing) are some of the main
reasons for African famine. The nature and extent of soil erosion and desertification varies
greatly throughout Africa and some of it is unrelated to human activity. The worst-affected
countries are Guinea Bissau, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Rwanda, Burundi
and Uganda.
 Making field workers and farmers aware of the dangers of indiscriminate use of
agricultural chemicals.
Indiscriminate use of agricultural chemicals seems to be rife in some parts of Africa and
requires urgent attention of authorities. Pesticides tested and released for use in temperate
regions are often used without knowing responses and effects under non-temperate
conditions. Even where regulatory procedure is in place, implementation is often lacking.
 Donation from Gates foundation for satellite surveillance for African soils
A digital soil-health surveillance system using remote satellite imagery has been launched to
map African areas at risk of soil degradation. The mapping system was launched with a fouryear grant of $18 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Alliance for a
Green revolution in Africa.
 African Soil Information Centre
Kenya’s government recently launched the African Soil Information Service at the World
Agroforestry Center in Nairobi.
 EU initiative for new Atlas for African soils
The European Commission two weeks ago presented the first Soil Atlas of Africa a meeting
of the European Commission and the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa. The Soil
Atlas is a collaborative initiative of the European Union, the African Union and the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to support and encourage the sustainable use
of soil resources in Africa and the Global Soil Partnership for Food Security. The Atlas
explains the origin and functions of soil, describes the different soil types and their relevance
to both local and global issues. It also discusses the principal threats to soil and the steps
being taken to protect soil resources.
 Soil scientists, will launch a pan-African assessment on the state of soil resources at the
forthcoming conference of the African Soil Science Society in Kenya (October 2013).
 SETAC Africa 2013 Meeting will be held in September 2013 in Zambia
Europe
New ISO guidelines:
 Ring test on soil contact test with the bacterium Arthrobacter globiformis (Europe and
Asia) starting soon (Catarina Marques)
 Plant genotoxicity test (no news)
 New proposal for another soil DNA extraction method (review by Philippot et al. 2012)
 Draft ISO on Bait-Lamina feeding test ready soon
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 Draft ISO on Site-specific ecological risk assessment (TRIAD) ready soon
 EU requirement: evaluation /extension of existing sampling methods (EcoFINDERS)
New ISO / OECD guidelines / guideline modifications:
 Transformation of the Earthworm Field Test from ISO to OECD accepted in April 2013
 Addition of identification of test species using barcoding methods  EBI initiative
New OECD guidelines:
 Guideline with mediterranean / tunneler dung beetle species (under preparation).
SETAC Globe contribution on Berlin Special Soils Symposium
4. Steering committee member status and election
Last year, the GSAG steering committee consisted of:
Steering Committee
Members name
Monica Amorim
Kees van Gestel
Jörg Römbke
Michael Simini
Juliska Princz
Hunter Anderson
Mike McLaughlin
Adriaan Reinecke
Cristina Sisinno
Richard Scroggins
Bruce Vignon
Country, Affiliation
Office term
Europe, academia
Europe, academia
Europe, business
North America, government
North America, government
North America, government
Asia Pacific, academia
Africa, academia
Latin America, business
North America, government; SETAC
World Council liaison
SETAC, ex officio member
Start
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2011?
2010
2010
2010
2010
End
2012
2014
2012
2014
2014
2014
2012
2012 (2014 max)
2012
2012
2010
....
The names in black are people stepping down this year. Elections were held in April, through
the internet, using the SETAC community website. This has resulted in the following new
composition of the GSAG:
Steering Committee
Members name
Erik Smolders
Kees van Gestel
Dave Spurgeon
Michael Simini
Richard Scroggins
Hunter Anderson
Ming Fan
Anu Kumar
Mark Maboeta
Cintia Niva
Bruce Vignon
Country, Affiliation
Office term
Europe, academia
Europe, academia
Europe, government
North America, government
North America, government; SETAC
North America, government
North America, business
Asia Pacific, government
Africa, academia
Latin America, academia
SETAC, ex officio member
Start
2013
2010
2013
2010
2013
2011?
2013
2013
2013
2013
2010
End
2017
2014
2017
2014
2017
2014
2017
2017
2017
2017
....
Kees thanked all leaving members for their contribution to the GSAG steering committee.
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Monica Amorim awarded Jörg Römbke with the GSAG medal, for his outstanding
contributions to the GSAG (left photo; Jörg later added this medal should also be given to
Fred Heimbach, who in fact is the founding father of the Soils Advisory Group, which started
in 2005).
Kees thanked Jörg and Monica for the very pleasant cooperation in the last couple of year to
get the GSAG representation at the SETAC Europe meetings organized (right photo). Thanks
are due to Joke van Wensem for taking these nice photos.
Next year, again some GSAG steering committee members will step down, and elections will
be organized through the SETAC community website.
Action: people interested in GSAG steering committee membership are requested to
send their CV to the steering committee.
5. Further activities/AOB
Silvia Pieper announced plans for organizing a workshop on litter decomposition using
TMEs.
Action: those interested in joining should mail to: silvia.pieper@uba.de
The GSAG poster is displayed in the exhibition hall; any suggestions for improvement are
welcome.
The SETAC-ISO liaison has been set up by Jörg Römbke, but needs further discussion with
the SETAC Council; preferably it will be converted into a liaison of the SETAC World
Council with ISO. This needs action from the GSAG steering committee in discussion with
Bruce Vigon and the SETAC NA and EU directors.
Action: GSAG steering committee to contact SETAC to arrange SETAC-ISO liaison
Jörg Römbe announced the EBI (Eisenia Barcoding Initiative), which aims at barcoding all
Eisenia strains in culture in the different laboratories. Those interested can send an e-mail to
Jörg to receive further information.
Action: those interested in joining the EBI mail to j-roembke@ect.de
Recently, a Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative has been launched, for more information, see
www.globalsoilbiodiversity.org.
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The European Crop Protection Association (ECPA), together with E-Sycon, the European
Landowners Organization (ELO), and RIFCON GmbH published a report on “Soil
biodiversity and agriculture”. They also published a brochure on Agriculture and Biodiversity,
with focus on farmland birds; see www.ecpa.eu.
The next SETAC Europe meeting in Basel. Suggestions for session topics related to soil can
be send to the GSAG steering committee, who will try to get soil on the agenda also of that
meeting.
Action: GSAG members to send suggestions for soil-related topics for next SETAC
Europe meeting to the GSAG steering committee (before 1st August).
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Annex:
Attendency of the GSAG meeting held at the 223rd SETAC Europe Annual Meeting in
Glasgow, on 14th May 2013
Joke van Wensem
Adriaan Reinecke
Sophié Reinecke
Mark Maboeta
Patrick Kabouw
Gregor Ernst
Chriane Cohsmann
Suzana Zizek
Matthias Janssmann
Olaf Klein
Elke Vockenhuber
Nicole Hanewald
Jakub Hofman
José Rodrigues
Ruth Pereira
Paulo Roger Alves
Maria Elizabeth Florreia
Sonia Chelinho
Sören Thiele-Bruhn
Eva Kohlschmid
Evan Marks
Ma Teresa Gómez Mora
Björn Scholz-Starke
Andreas Toschki
Masoud M. Ardestani
Gladys L. Stephenson
Mary Moody
Rick Scroggins
Janeck J. Scott-Fordsmand
Mike McLaughlin
Jörg Römbke
Monica Amorim
Erik Smolders
Silvia Pieper
Geert Cornelis
Kees van Gestel
TCB, The Netherlands
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
North-West University, South Africa
BASF, Germany
Bayer CropScience, Germany
Rifcon GmbH, Germany
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
IBACON GmbH, Germany
Eurofins Agroscience Services Ecochem, Germany
BCS, Germany
BASF, Germany
Masaryk University, Czech Republic
RMIT University
University of Porto/CESAM, Portugal
USP, Brazil
EMBRAPA, Brazil
University of Coimbra, Portugal
University of Trier, Germany
Agroscope, Switzerland
CREAF, Spain
UTOX, Spain
RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Gaiac Research Institute
VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Stantec, Canada
SRC, Canada
Environment Canada, Canada
Arhus University, Denmark
CSIRO, Australia
ECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH, Germany
University of Aveiro, Portugal
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
UBA, Germany
University of Gothenburg
VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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