Urgent replacement of an ICP-AES for the measurement of trace metals in environmental samples

在过去的一个世纪里，社会对金属的需求增加，给水生生态系统的健康带来了前所未有的风险，特别是在拥有重要矿物和水产资源的加拿大。准确描述水生生物暴露在这些环境污染物中的特征，对于正确评估污染物的生态毒理风险以及了解导致其生物积累和毒性的基本过程至关重要。在这方面，这项建议是为了紧急更换新不伦瑞克大学(UNB)和加拿大河流研究所(CRI)Crémazy实验室用于测量各种环境样品(如水、沉积物、生物群)中痕量金属的电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱仪(ICP-AES)。该设备是几个已资助/待完成的研究项目(NSERC、FRQNT、CFI、NBIF、工业)的核心，这些项目产生关于金属环境命运和对水环境的影响的基本知识。在短期内，电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱将支持五个研究项目，包括：探索寒冷条件下(极地地区和冬季)痕量金属的环境风险；表征河流铝在春季的再动员如何影响大西洋鲑鱼在海上的生存；为制定新的加拿大水质准则生成关键的镭毒性数据。最终，我们的工作为更好地预测金属的生态风险提供了科学方法，并有助于制定既符合社会经济现实又具有环境保护的水质指南。电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱也将被UNB和CRI的其他研究小组使用，特别是在支持整个新不伦瑞克的污染物监测项目中。从长远来看，这些设备将巩固我们在环境科学领域的前沿地位，创造新的研究机会，并在环境科学、生态毒理学和风险评估领域提供最先进的HQP培训，所有这些都是加拿大就业市场的增长领域。

Over the past century, increased societal demand for metals has generated unprecedented risks for the health of aquatic ecosystems, particularly in Canada, which holds both important mineral and aquatic resources. The accurate characterization of aquatic organisms' exposure to these environmental contaminants is essential for the sound assessment of the contaminants' ecotoxicogical risk, as well as for our understanding of the fundamental processes that lead to their bioaccumulation and toxicity. In this context, this proposal is for the urgent replacement of an Inductive Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP-AES) for the measurement of trace metals in various environmental samples (e.g. water, sediment, biota) in the Crémazy lab at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and the Canadian Rivers Institute (CRI). This equipment is central to several funded/pending research programs (NSERC, FRQNT, CFI, NBIF, industry) that generate essential knowledge on metal environmental fate and effects in the aquatic environment. In the short-term, the ICP-AES will support five research projects that include: exploring the environmental risk of trace metals under cold conditions (Polar regions and winter season); characterizing how spring remobilization of river aluminum affects the survival of Atlantic salmon at sea; and generating critical radium toxicity data for the derivation of a new Canadian water quality guideline. Ultimately, our work informs scientific approaches to better predict the ecological risk of metals and contribute to generating water quality guidelines that are both socio-economically realistic and environmentally protective. The ICP-AES will also be used by other research groups at UNB and CRI, notably in support of contaminant monitoring programs across New Brunswick. In the long-term, the equipment will consolidate our position at the forefront of environmental sciences, create new research opportunities, and provide state-of-the-art HQP training in the fields of environmental science, ecotoxicology, and risk assessment, all of which are growth areas in the Canadian job market.