Determining water quality is a key question and legislation aims at achieving an ecological and chemical “good status” of all water bodies. In this module, we focus on superficial water bodies (e.g.: rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal waters) and the way to assess the status of their physico-chemical status by means of measures, sampling and laboratory analysis.

Field operations are located in the coastal lagoon of Vieux Boucau (SW France). Students are in charge of the monitoring design, the hydrological monitoring and laboratory activities.

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This short course introduces students to biostatistics as applied to ecotoxicological studies. The basic principles and methods used in biostatistics are covered in this short course. This includes the technical qualifications necessary for exploring, analysing and interpreting data from both controlled experiments, in particular standardized ecotoxicity tests, and field monitoring. Beyond conventional tests such as ANOVA and its variants, an overview of other less conventional approaches will be provided to broaden statistical toolbox and ensure students to make proper use of their data.

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The aim of this course is to give the students an introduction to environmental science and ecotoxicology, and to contribute to the student's knowledge about how pollutant chemicals released in nature may cause adverse effects in organsisms, populations and ecosystems.

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All organisms are not equal when exposed to environmental contamination. Inter- and intra- specific variation in responses to pollutants triggers a cascade of effects, affecting biodiversity and its resilience. These effects will be presented from physiological functions up to populations demography and genetics, through life-history traits and behaviour.

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The global change due to human activity is increasingly affecting the health of ecosystems and the living conditions for most of living creatures, including human beings. Understanding, predicting and mitigating the response of the global water system in terms of availability, quality and contamination requires to have a bulk knowledge of the water cycle and related hydrological processes.

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Water quality monitoring networks are a major management tool for different types of water bodies, in particular within the framework of the Water Framework Directive and its daughter directives.  This course aims to present the objectives and methodologies for setting up monitoring for different types of water bodies: surface water (rivers, lakes), groundwater, coastal and estuarine waters and wastewater.

The course will be illustrated by the use and exploitation of monitoring data from different national (Naïades, Ades, Somlit, Ifremer) or international (US-EPA, EBA,...) databases.

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