Projects
Ongoing projects
In addition to providing environmental monitoring services to various companies on the mainland and islands, CloverStrategy is involved in international projects and business incentive programs.
ERAMYC
Test battery for the effect determination of chemicals in soils: Suitability of test systems with mycorrhiza fungi for the risk assessment
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) are organisms that live in symbiosis with most plant species, being responsible for supporting key soil functions (e.g. increasing resistance of host plants to several stressors, acquiring nutrients from soil for host plants, stabilizing soil structure and increasing soil carbon stocks) and providing important ecosystem services. Due to their ecological relevance and sensitivity to chemicals, AMF have been indicated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as a potential group of non-target test organisms to be used in the risk assessment of Plant Protection Products (PPPs). ERAMYC is a project financed by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), coordinated by Cloverstrategy and that integrates a consortium of experts from, UDESC (Brazil), University of Tartu (Estonia), University of Coimbra (Portugal) and Free University of Berlin (Germany) with the aim to:
- improve the existing test protocol for the pre-symbiotic phase not only by the inclusion of other test species and testing conditions, but mainly by the development and inclusion of test procedures embracing the symbiotic phase of AMF species;
- standardise the developed protocol via the performance of a ring-test with different chemicals;
- develop a draft OECD Test Guideline to be submitted for scrutiny under the remit of an OECD expert group and to evaluate the experimental results against the existing framework for the risk assessment of soil organisms exposed to chemicals.
Completed projects
In addition to providing environmental monitoring services to various companies on the mainland and islands, CloverStrategy is involved in international projects and business incentive programs.
UNCERTAIN
New developments in the toxicity testing of soil organisms – Protecting soil biodiversity
In Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA), uncertainties in the extrapolation to the field situation have been often dealt with the application of commonly agreed assessment factors. These factors were in part not scientifically and transparently deduced but agreed on common sense. Not too uncommon, uncertainties about several components of an ERA process were not specifically taken into account, either due to unawareness or due to lack of tools to handle them. EFSA acknowledges these gaps in common practice and recently provided guidance on how to handle uncertainties in various scientific assessments, like in the ERA of plant protection products (PPPs) (EFSA SC 2018). The UNCERTAIN project is financed by German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and counts with Cloverstrategy to the perform of laboratory ecotoxicological experiments using different standard species and natural and artificial soils and with experts from Darwin Statistics and ECT Oekotoxikologie (Germany) and University of Durham (United Kingdom) to model the uncertainties. The project aims to identify and quantify sources of uncertainties that may occur in the ERA of PPPs, especially in the soil compartment.
ToxBrasil
Implementation of the Environmental Risk Assessment to protect life from the risks associated with the use of plant protection products
This project is funded by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) and aims to develop Environmental Risk Assessment (ARA) methodologies considering Brazilian scenarios, for non-target organisms (mammals and birds, aquatic organisms, soil organisms, reptiles and amphibians) and for the environmental education of actors involved in the use of plant protection products regarding the environmental risks of these products. Cloverstrategy, through FIEPE/CAV – UDESC, is responsible for carrying out a comparative analysis of the main predictive models of exposure to soil organisms and for conducting laboratory ecotoxicological tests with non-target species of soil invertebrates.
WOOL2LOOP
Circular economy (human health risk assessment from industrial processes for conversion of construction and demolition waste to new ceramic or concrete-type products)
The overall objective of the WOOL2LOOP project was to divert mineral wool waste from landfilling and enhance its utilisation in novel products. At the same time, the access to sustainable, alternative and non-conventional raw materials for the construction industry was also secured. CloverStrategy was responsible for the risk assessment for human and environmental receptors throughout the product’s life cycle. The work involved the sampling and analysis of relevant agents, as well as the construction of pilot units on a laboratory and industrial scale. The project was funded by the EU H2020 program and involved previous research to identify risk factors, covering the need for quantification and identification of microbiological species, volatile organic compounds, ammonia, particulate matter, fibers and metals released into the environment. It also involved fieldwork in Finland, Belgium, Poland and Slovenia. The project’s coordinator was the Saint-Gobain Finland Oy.
MetaSol
Biodiversity of soil invertebrate communities, funded by the Federal Environment Agency of Germany (UBA)
Germany lacks a nationwide and standardised survey of soil organisms, although a comprehensive infrastructure for this is available with the approx. 800 Permanent Soil Monitoring Sites (BDF). However, not all federal states conduct their own soil biology surveys on their BDF. The most important reason for this is probably the time-consuming and expensive identification of soil invertebrates. The MetasSol project aimed to contribute to solving this problem. Earthworms, enchytraeids and collembolans were sampled at 25 sites, the animals were determined morphologically and by DNA metabarcoding, and the results were compared with each other. The aim was to develop recommendations for an efficient and routinely implementable monitoring of soil fauna within the German BDF programme. This project was funded by the German Federal Environment Agency and Cloverstrategy had the role of identifying the collembolans collected through classical morphological identifications. The results showed that genetic identification methods are basically suitable for this purpose. Before they can be introduced into official practice, several preconditions still must be met. DNA reference databases must be comprehensive, well curated and quality controlled. DNA-based methods need to be standardised. Robust indices of soil health based on soil organism data need to be developed. It is recommended that soil fauna surveys be carried out to the same extent and using the same methods in all federal states. Soil organisms should first be regularly recorded using classical morphological methods, at least earthworms, enchytraeids and collembolans. The inclusion of further groups should be examined. Genetic methods should be introduced gradually, starting with earthworms. The data collected should be compiled centrally and made available to the public. In the long term, environmental DNA metabarcoding should be used as standard for investigating and assessing soil biodiversity.
Phy2SUDOE
Advancing in the application of innovative phyto-management strategies in contaminated areas of the SUDOE space
In the SUDOE space there are many contaminated sites. Phytomanagement is a strategy of remediation that combines risk reduction associated with contaminants with value creation through the generation of ecosystem products and services. The PhytoSUDOE project created a network of sites (PhytoSUDOE Network) in which the benefits of different phytomanagement options on soil quality were demonstrated, mainly in sites contaminated with trace elements (metals). The Phy2SUDOE project, financed by the Interrreg Sudoe program of European Union, intended to transfer this knowledge, acquired by institutions mainly in the academic area, to managers of contaminated sites included as partners and associated partners (administrations, companies). For this, new sites with different contamination patterns were incorporated (type/land use, organic contaminants/mixtures) where new phytomanagement strategies were applied using the methodology developed in PhytoSUDOE. Cloverstrategy was responsible for the maintenance of sites in Portugal, namely in Estarreja and in the Borralha mines in partnership with the Catholic University of Lisbon. Sampling and analysis of soils and groundwater, and of fauna and flora were carried out. Toxicological and ecotoxicological tests, transport modelling, reaction and exposure of contaminants and risk analysis to human and ecological receptors in different phytoremediation scenarios were also carried out.