Short abstract

Where is chemical pollution and what does it do to the terrestrial environment?

Research questions

TerraChem’s objectives are:

• To understand routes of exposure to chemicals in terrestrial wildlife
• To model pathways and effects of chemical contaminants
• To develop tools and guidance for regulation of chemicals
• To develop a Data Management System and Dashboard as a One-Stop Shop for data on contaminants in terrestrial biodiversity in Europe.

Project description

While Europe is headed towards zero-pollution ambitions, the actual extent of what chemicals are in the terrestrial environment and what their effects to biodiversity are relatively poorly quantified. This makes prioritization of chemical regulation a cumbersome task without much direction. TerraChem brings together real-world monitoring, modelling of chemicals, damage pathways, applications for risk prevention and mitigation, and big data management to provide an early warning system of emerging chemical risks. 

Together, this offers a new approach to reduce harm to wildlife (and humans) from chemicals in the terrestrial environment in Europe, in support of the EU zero pollution ambition.

The Leiden University team is responsible for collecting  and analyzing data on chemicals in the environment. For this, we

1. collate known databases of pesticides,
2. measure food webs of barn owls, wolves, badgers and more using stable isotope analysis
3. model the damage chemicals can exhibit on the functional diversity and ecosystem services provided by terrestrial wildlife

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