The International Conference Environmental Toxicants in Freshwater and Marine Ecosystems in the Black Sea Basin

The International Conference Environmental Toxicants in Freshwater and Marine Ecosystems in the Black Sea Basin took place between 8 and 11 September 2020, being organised within the project BSB 27 MONITOX by the International Hellenic University from Kavala, Greece and the University Dunarea de Jos from Galati, Romania. In the context of the current epidemiological situation in the World, caused by COVID-19, the conference took place online, with broadcasts from Greece, Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

The Institute of Zoology participated in the online session from 10 September with several presentations, opting for a multilingual format (English, Romanian, and Russian). Thus, doctor (PhD) Nadejda Andreev presented an innovative model for sustainable reuse of effluents and sludge of septic tanks, doctor habilitat Dumitru Bulat described the population of Pontic Shad (Alosa immaculata Benett, 1835) in the Dniester River, doctor Igor Șubernețkii talked about the assessment of the water quality at the mouth of the Prut and Danube rivers according to microbiological indices in 2019, doctor Daria Tumanova – about the state of phytoplankton and the assessment of the water quality based on phytoplankton indices. The young researchers of the Laboratory of Hydrobiology and Ecotoxicology of the Institute of Zoology presented to the public the reflections on the monitoring of oligoelements in water ecosystems (PhD student Petru Ciorba), types of responses of zooplankton to the influence of pollutants (Liubovi Lebedenco), and data on residues of organochlorine pesticides in bottom sediments of rivers from the Republic of Moldova (Anastasia Ivanova).
The Chisinau conference session was moderated by the corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova Elena Zubcov, coordinator of BSB 27 project on behalf of the Institute of Zoology, and doctor Lucia Bilețchi, PB2 technical manager. The session was attended by over 50 people, of which about 30 - online.
A range of poster presentations, including those prepared by the researchers from the Institute of Zoology, were placed by the organizers on the platform http://websites3.teiemt.gr/blacksea/.  The conference program is available HERE.

Text: Lucia Bilețchi
Photo: Elena Zubcov, Oxana Munjiu, Lucia Bilețchi