MODELKEY Models for Assessing and Forecasting the Impact of Environmental Key Pollutants on Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems and Biodiversity
Country: EU Projects
Start Date:   1/2/2005         Duration: 60 months         Project Type: RTD
Contract Number: SSPI-CT-2003-511237-2
Organisation Type:  EC Project
Topics: 
Sediments
Water and sanitation-->Water and sanitation Overview
Water resources and their management -->Stresses, quality and ecological status
Water resources and their management -->Water resources and their management Overview
Project objectives: 
MODELKEY comprises a multidisciplinary approach aiming at developing interlinked and verified predictive modelling tools as well as state-of-the-art 
effect-assessment and analytical methods generally applicable to European freshwater and marine ecosystems:     
    
to assess, forecast, and mitigate the risks of traditional and recently evolving pollutants on fresh water and marine ecosystems and their biodiversity 
at a river basin and adjacent marine environment scale,     
to provide early warning strategies on the basis of sub-lethal effects in vitro and in vivo,     
to provide a better understanding of cause-effect-relationships between changes in biodiversity and the ecological status, as addressed by the Water 
Framework Directive (WFD), and the impact of environmental pollution as causative factor,     
to provide methods for state-of-the-art risk assessment and decision support systems for the selection of the most efficient management options to prevent 
effects on biodiversity and to prioritise contamination sources and contaminated sites,     
to strengthen the scientific knowledge on an European level in the field of impact assessment of environmental pollution on aquatic ecosystems and their 
biodiversity by extensive training activities and knowledge dissemination to stakeholders and the scientific community.
Project Summary: 
One of the driving forces for an insufficient ecological status and reduced biodiversity of freshwater and marine ecosystems is chemical stress due to environmental 
pollutants. The WFD classifies the quality status of aquatic ecosystems based on traditional hydromorphological, physico-chemical, biological parameters 
and priority pollutant (PP) concentrations. This procedure allows a rough quality assessment. However, a reliable diagnosis, prediction and forecasting 
of toxic impacts on aquatic ecosystems and an efficient mitigation of toxic risks demand for an identification of the respective stressors and for reliable 
cause-effect relationships between chemical pollution and biodiversity decline. To date severe gaps of knowledge impede the evaluation and mitigation 
of the causes for an insufficient ecological status in many aquatic ecosystems. MODELKEY is designed to bridge these knowledge gaps.
Achieved Objectives: 
Downloadable publications:  
  
Brack W et al. (2005): MODELKEY. Models for assessing and forecasting the impact   
of environmental key pollutants on freshwater and marine ecosystems and biodiversity. ESPR - Environ Sci & Pollut Res 12 (5): 252-256  
 Format: PDF, File size: 100 KB   
  
Brack W et al. (2007): Effect-Directed Analysis of Key Toxicants in European River Basins - A Review. ESPR - Environ Sci & Pollut Res 14 (1): 30-38  
  
From: http://www.modelkey.ufz.de/index.php?en= ...
Product Descriptions:
Additional Information:
Project Resources:
Weblink:
http://www.modelkey.org/
Funding Programme(s): 
EC Framework Programme 6
Link to Organisations:
Submitted by: EUGRIS Team Dr Stefan Gödeke  Who does what?  09/03/2005 10:49:00
Updated by: EUGRIS Team Professor Paul Bardos  Who does what?  21/09/2007 23:31:00