This project will explore the mobilisation and bioaccumulation of heavy metal\u00a0contaminants from historic mine waste from old mine sites in Wales, and their impact on\u00a0wildlife health. This is a unique, interdisciplinary project involving environmental\u00a0geochemistry, ecology, plant science and animal health, involving colleagues at the\u00a0University of Nottingham, the Natural History Museum, and Natural Resources Wales, to\u00a0explore research questions which will have important and practical implications for wildlife\u00a0health and conservation. Toxic metals in samples of river water, river sediment, terrestrial\u00a0soil, freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates will be quantified using inductively coupled\u00a0plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Small mammals, will be assessed using ICP-MS\u00a0and several biomarkers in blood and tissue, to explore the relationship between trace\u00a0metal concentrations and health. Blood samples will also be analysed for erythrocyte\u00a0enzyme delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD), free oxygen radical scavengers,\u00a0and innate and adaptive humoral immunity will be assessed in plasma using species nonspecific\u00a0immune assays. Ultimately, the results will provide a better understanding of\u00a0impacts of historic mine waste on animal health in affected areas and enable a greater\u00a0understanding of the biodiversity and conservation impacts of mine waste, with\u00a0implications for best practice management. This project provides opportunities for varied\u00a0fieldwork and laboratory skills. This will include: fieldwork in Wales to collect\u00a0environmental and animal samples in the region of historic lead mines, specialist training\u00a0in wild animal handling and sampling methods, specialist laboratory training and data\u00a0interpretation at University of Nottingham, and training in ecological methods, field work, a\u00a0training placement at Natural Resources Wales, and translation of results to inform policy\u00a0both at the University of Nottingham and Natural Resources Wales.<\/p>\n
Applicants should hold a minimum of a UK Honours Degree at 2:1 level or equivalent in\u00a0subjects such as Environmental Toxicology, Natural Sciences or Veterinary Sciences; a\u00a0background in animal health and experience obtaining biological samples from animals is\u00a0preferred.<\/p>\n
For further information, contact Dr. Lisa Yon (University of Nottingham, School of\u00a0Veterinary Medicine & Science) lisa.yon@nottingham.ac.uk<\/a>, Dr. Matthew Johnson\u00a0(University of Nottingham, School of Geography) lgzmfj@exmail.nottingham.ac.uk<\/a>, or Dr.\u00a0Scott Young (University of Nottingham, School of Biosciences)\u00a0Scott.Young@nottingham.ac.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This project will explore the mobilisation and bioaccumulation of heavy metal\u00a0contaminants from historic mine waste from old mine sites in Wales, and their impact on\u00a0wildlife health. This is a unique, interdisciplinary project involving environmental\u00a0geochemistry, ecology, plant science and animal health, involving colleagues at the\u00a0University of Nottingham, the Natural History Museum, and Natural Resources Wales, to\u00a0explore… Read More »The Impact of Trace Metal Contaminants on Environmental and Animal Health: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":5856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[51],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-5855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-51","tag-nottingham"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/files\/2017\/10\/Lisa-Yon-Image-400x400px.jpg?fit=400%2C400","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8kFzn-1wr","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5857,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5855\/revisions\/5857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}