Closed Aquatic Ecosystem Research for Space and Earth Application

Abstract

All ecosystems - natural or artificial - have to deal with potential pollution, the introduction of additional components and substances as well as with the establishment or enrichment of substances of the system itself. Assays for testing substances prior to their primary occurrence require further investigations on ecosystem level as well as on the used test beds. The project AToxMss (Aquatic Ecotoxicology in a Multispecies System) is based on fundamental ecosystem research, intensive hardware and software development as well as on the basic knowledge of the participating parties. C.B.R.U (Controlled Biological Research Unit) is based on the C.E.B.A.S.-Minimodule an aquatic microcosm, which was flown already three times on board of a space shuttle . C.B.R.U. was validated and is being under further development as a standardized ecosystem research / ecotoxicological test bed. It allows the verification of impacts of applied substances on different trophic levels. Data obtained from this closed ecosystem are closer to reality as compared to other systems. The system is under characterization using a well known toxic substance (tributyltin, TBT). The time course of the low doses application in the system and the organisms are presented (residue analysis) as well as results obtained from further standard analytical methods applied (determination of the activity of detoxifying enzymes).