WCO -2015
Qingdao, China
The trace element contamination of coastal waters: A holistic approach
to environmental monitoring surveys
Dr. Richir Jonathan
STARESO SAS
Calvi - France
Laboratory of Oceanology
University of Liege - Belgium
Numerical Ecology of Aquatic Systems
University of Mons - Belgium
Abstract
Sustained monitoring programs are necessary to evidence the efficacy of regulatory controls on pollutant
discharges and to assess the health status of ecosystems. Within this perspective, this study aimed to
monitor the coastal trace element contamination of the whole Mediterranean, using Posidonia oceanica (L.)
Delile as bioindicator. But sustainable coastal management also requires the development of appropriate
classification systems intended, among other purposes, for environmental managers and policy makers.
The combined utilization of several complementary monitoring tools - water quality scale, pollution index,
spatial analysis - successfully led to the development of such an operational classification system: it
allowed to assess contamination threats and to depict contamination gradients of the entire Mediterranean,
while assessing more regional and local impacts. Consequently, such holistic approaches should be
privileged to accurately monitor the contamination rate of coastal waters and to transfer relevant
information on this composite problem to environmental managers and policy makers.
Biography
Dr. Jonathan RICHIR, from 2013 Scientific Collaborator of the Oceanology Research Unit of the
University of Liege (ULg), Belgium, in 2014 Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Marine Sciences
of the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, in 2015 Scientific Coordinator of the STARECAPMED
project at the Marine and Oceanographic Research Station STARESO SAS, France, now Assistant
Professor in the Numerical Ecology of Aquatic Systems group at the University of Mons, Belgium. Born in
Namur, Belgium, in 1981. License in Biology (2004), Diploma of Specialized Studies in Applied Biology
(2005), Master in Oceanography (2007). He publicly defended his Doctoral Thesis on the ecotoxicology of
trace elements in 2012, with unanimous congratulations of the Jury. His research, which revolves primarily
around the ecology and the ecotoxicology of trace elements, fits into the framework of European Policies
and Directives related to coastal environment issues. This work is co-authored with Pr. Sylvie GOBERT,
head of the Oceanolgy Research Unit. Master in Oceanography, Dr. in Sciences (2002), she teaches at the
University of Liege (Biologic Oceanography, Pelagic Oceanography, Marine Ecology, Sampling Technics,
Marine Plant Ecology …). Her researches focus on seagrasses, marine food webs, ecotoxicology,
diagnostic tools, ecological health status indices, trace elements, stable isotopes, nutrients, seascapes …