Ecologists Meet Online to Chart Current Trends in Environmental Research

Ecologists from Bulgaria and abroad gathered online for the International Seminar of Ecology – 2021, titled “Current trends of Ecology”, an annual meeting that has grown from a national student platform into an international forum for sharing new results on pollution, biodiversity loss, and environmental change. The presentations from the meeting have now been compiled in a thematic special issue of the journal BioRisk, offering a broad snapshot of where ecological research is heading, from pesticide impacts and soil remediation to polar nematodes and the future of farming.

The seminar has a long history. The first scientific event was organized in 2007 by the Section Biology of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria together with the Central Laboratory of General Ecology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, as a platform for students and scientists to share results and discuss major ecological problems. Over the years it became a popular forum for well-known researchers, young scientists, and BSc, MSc, and PhD students from Bulgaria and abroad. In 2014 the meeting gained international participation, and in 2019 it became known as the International Seminar of Ecology. Because of the pandemic, the last two meetings were carried out online, and the tradition of awarding the best oral presentations and posters of students and young scientists with certificates and books was maintained.

The scientific program opened with a session devoted to biotic and abiotic impacts on living nature, ecological risk, and bioremediation. Two complementary plenary reports framed the discussion: one, titled “Ecocide”, introduced the audience to the global effects of pesticides, radionuclides, and petroleum products on both target and non-target organisms, while the other, “Green and nano-pesticides”, discussed their use as alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides. A set of subsequent reports focused on the anthropogenic and environmental impact of heavy metals, fungicides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and natural radionuclides, provoking serious discussion among participants.

One thread of that discussion concerned soils. Based on a correlation found between bacterial abundance, soil properties, and heavy metal pollution, the debate centered on soil properties as a factor that can modulate the effect of heavy metals present in chronically contaminated soils. Several approaches to overcoming environmental pollution were presented: zeolites as detoxifying tools, microalgae for the treatment of contaminated water bodies, and a newly developed bio-fertilizer based on activated sludge combined with a bacterial strain carrying detoxifying and plant growth-promoting properties. Participants also emphasized a clear need to extend existing monitoring programs by including more bioindicators and markers, in order to achieve a more detailed assessment of environmental impact.

Examples of such bioindicators came from unexpected places. Sexually manifested variations in the pigmentation of the copepod Boeckella poppei, collected on Livingston Island in Maritime Antarctica, were described as a suitable indicator reflecting ongoing global environmental changes in Antarctica. Changes in the antioxidant system of commercially important fish species and mussels from the Bulgarian Black Sea coastal area were recommended as markers for the same purpose. According to the meeting reports, using various markers to evaluate environmentally induced stress responses at microbiological, molecular, and biochemical levels made it possible to gain insight into how organisms protect themselves and how resistance to environmental impact is formed, with increased DNA repair capacity and antioxidant defense contributing to environmental tolerance or adaptation.

Photoprotection also featured prominently. Important results for understanding photoprotection in cyanobacteria, algae, and higher plants were obtained through in vitro reconstitution of complexes of the stress protein HliA with pigments, and the crucial role of the cellular physiological state as a critical factor determining resistance to environmental stress was demonstrated in so-called Q cells. Other presentations turned to plant-derived bioactive substances, whose bioactivity was shown to depend strongly on chemical composition. The essential oil of Origanum vulgare hirtum was promoted as a promising candidate for “green” technologies, and analyses of plant secondary metabolites showed that their productivity in vitro is a dynamic process closely related to plant growth and development and to the plant’s interactions with its environmental conditions.

Agriculture occupied its own thematic session. In the plenary report, the impact of agriculture on the environment, human health, energy crises, and climate change was presented as forcing policymakers and farmers to rethink the current model of agricultural production. Designing and implementing a new model, the report argued, requires significant changes in the management of farming systems, natural resources, the food chain, and scientific approaches in order to meet environmental and societal demands, and the interrelationships between traditional and organic farming, new plant breeding techniques including GMOs, and precision farming were considered in this context. Within the same session, a comparison of organic versus conventional farming of Rosa damascena in Bulgaria’s Rose Valley showed that rose extracts from organic farming accumulated more phenolic compounds, corresponding to a higher antioxidant potential of organically grown roses.

Not all findings favored alternative systems. A comparative study based on official data from the statistics office of the European Union and member countries, concerning viral infection levels in intensive and organic poultry farming, demonstrated that free-range production had a higher incidence of viral diseases with high zoonotic potential. On a more positive note, pollinators of Lavandula angustifolia were analyzed as an important factor for optimal production of lavender essential oil; although lavender growers tend to place beehives in their fields, the conclusion was that preserving wild pollinators is also crucial. New data further reported that essential oils and alkaloid-rich plant extracts showed the strongest acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity and could be recommended for further testing for insect control.

The session on biodiversity and conservation biology began with three plenary lectures covering vegetation diversity in Bulgaria, genetic diversity in cork oak plantations in Portugal, and nematodes in the polar deserts of the Arctic and Antarctic. It was reported that Bulgaria’s vegetation diversity is still not fully investigated: grasslands, broad-leaved forests, and wetlands are the best-studied habitats, while data on ruderal, shrubland, fringe, and chasmophytic vegetation remain scarce. The cork oak report presented results from an investigation spanning the last two decades, aimed at understanding cork oak genetics and identifying genes of interest for high-quality cork production. The polar desert lecture presented the fauna and ecology of nematodes in both polar regions, focusing on their survival adaptation strategies and proposing the polar deserts as an excellent model habitat, a natural laboratory for studying and monitoring the impact of global change on biotic communities. Other talks in the session addressed pest control using pteromalids as natural enemies, the main reasons behind bumblebee population decline — habitat destruction, loss of floral resources, emerging diseases, and increased pesticide use, particularly neonicotinoids — the influence of temperature and wind on zooplankton distribution in Mandra Reservoir in southeastern Bulgaria, and an ex-situ conservation approach for the plant Stachys thracica based on in vitro shoot culture and subsequent adaptation under ex vitro conditions.

The final session, on ecosystem research and services and landscape ecology, opened with a plenary report asking whether it is possible for people to become ecosystem-friendly again. It discussed ecosystems as the fundamental functional units of the living planet, presented the main problems, responsibilities, and goals of ecosystem management, and argued for integrating ecological, economic, and social goals into a unified management approach that requires urgent reorganization of science and education. Further presentations included pre-monitoring geochemical research of river sediments near the Ada Tepe gold mining site in the Eastern Rhodopes, where the explored landscapes were found to be influenced both by natural geochemical anomalies and by human activity; a survey of forest habitat diversity in Breznik Municipality following the EUNIS classification, which recorded dominant species such as Quercus dalechampii, Quercus frainetto, Fagus sylvatica, and Carpinus betulus alongside artificial plantations of Pinus nigra and Pinus sylvestris and non-native species such as Robinia pseudoacacia and Quercus rubra; and models for predicting solution properties and solid-liquid equilibrium in cesium binary and mixed systems, described as important for developing strategies and programs for nuclear waste geochemical storage. In closing, the organizers noted that many questions were answered at the seminar but many others remained open, pointing to the next International Seminar of Ecology in 2022, entitled “Actual problems of Ecology”, as the platform for continuing the discussion.

Subject of Research: Current trends in ecological research presented at the International Seminar of Ecology – 2021

Article Title: International seminar of ecology – 2021 “Current trends of ecology”

Article References: Chankova, S. (2022). International seminar of ecology – 2021 “Current trends of ecology”. BioRisk, 17, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.17.84978

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/biorisk.17.84978

Keywords: ecology, International Seminar of Ecology 2021, BioRisk, bioremediation, bioindicators, biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, heavy metal pollution, pollinators, Antarctica, ecosystem management, plant bioactive compounds