Projects
Combined effects of metal mixtures and natural stressors on aquatic invertebrates: Relating changes in metal uptake to altered behavior and ecological effects. University of Antwerp
Ecological and evolutionary implications of oxidative stress in aquatic invertebrates: UV radiation as a model pro-oxidant. KU Leuven
All organisms face stress imposed by the production of damaging reactive oxygen species during metabolism, so-called endogenous oxidative stress (OS). Due to human activities, organisms are also increasingly facing OS imposed by external factors such as UV radiation and pollutants. Populations exposed to UV radiation evolve defence mechanisms to cope with OS. Recent insights indicate that OS affects the evolution of life history traits, such ...
Microbial diversity within an Eco-Health context: effects of anthropogenic stress and host phylogeny on the microbiome and microparasites of a keystone freshwater invertebrate. KU Leuven
Contribution of chemoautotrophic and chemosynthetic organic matter production pathways to freshwater and estuarine benthic invertebrate communities. KU Leuven
Aquatic food webs can be fueled by photosynthetically produced organic matter (terrestrial or aquatic), or by chemo-autotrophic or methane (CH4)-based metabolic pathways. While CH4 production is generally much lower in estuarine and coastal systems than in freshwater sediments, the opposite holds for chemo-autotrophic pathways. While both the production and consumption of methane are known to be important to consumers in specific ...
Rapid evolution of tolerance to pesticides under warming in an aquatic invertebrate and its gut microbiome KU Leuven
Do the gut microbiota contribute to rapid evolution in tolerance to stressors in its host? Organisms are increasingly exposed to multiple anthropogenic stressors. Pollutants and warming are among the two most important anthropogenic stressors, that moreover magnify each other’s effects: many pollutants are more toxic at higher temperatures. This is of huge concern both for current risk assessment of pollutants in warmer regions and for future ...
An in depth localisation study of silver nanoparticles in pluripotent stem cells and developing tissues of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea, an invertebrate model system for toxicological studies. Hasselt University
Contribution of chemoautotrophic and chemosynthetic organic matter production pathways to freshwater and estuarine benthic invertebrate communities KU Leuven
Aquatic foodwebs can be fueled by photosynthetically produced organic matter (terrestrial or aquatic), or by chemo-autotrophic or methane (CH4)-based metabolic pathways. While CH4 production is generally much lower in estuarine and coastal systems than in freshwater sediments, the opposite holds for chemo-autotrophic pathways. While both the production and consumption of methane are known to be important to cosumers in specific environments, ...
Functional characterization of an invertebrate thyrotropin-releasing hormone pathway in the regulation of growth KU Leuven
Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) is at the pinnacle of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Thyroid axis responsible for the regulation of diverse physiological and metabolic processes in vertebrate animals. On the other hand, malfunctioning of the TRH regulatory system causes neurological, metabolic, and growth disorders in humans. Recent evidence suggests that components of the TRH signalling axis are evolutionary conserved in invertebrate ...
Contribution of chemoautotrophic and chemosynthetic organic matter production pathways to freshwater and estuarine benthic invertebrate communities Ghent University
Aquatic foodwebs can be fueled by photosynthetically produced organic matter (terrestrial or
aquatic), or by chemo-autotrophic or methane (CH4)-based metabolic pathways. While CH4
production is generally much lower in estuarine and coastal systems than in freshwater sediments,
the opposite holds for chemo-autotrophic pathways. While both the production and consumption
of methane are known to be ...