| Expertise |
Eight years ago, the Faculty of Economics created a study program called Management Engineering. In this framework, multi-disciplinary courses involving social and natural sciences were built in order to educate students in economics and management sciences in sciences and technology. Annick Castiaux, a PhD in Physics, was hired by the University of Namur to manage this scientifically oriented program. This led her to develop research linking those fields. She has conducted several research projects where both socio-economical and scientific sides were covered. The subject of sustainable development particularly requires this multi-disciplinary approach. Several skills concerning managerial and economic dimensions of sustainable development have been developed in the Faculty of Economics. This is why Patrick Kestemont, director of the Unit of Research in Organismic Biology (URBO), suggested a strong collaboration between our two research units in the present project. Since more than ten years, URBO has developed different research programs in the field of aquatic ecotoxicology. Along these research programs, URBO has developed different tools for assessment of water bodies ecological quality and for ecotoxicological studies on fish, as well as on other aquatic organisms in different laboratory conditions. This new expertise will be useful in the present project to link the field observations concerning pesticide and heavy metal loads in water to physiological responses of some selected sedentary organisms in the Belgian water pools.
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| Selection of 5 recent publications |
- Malbrouck C., Trausch G., Devos P. & Kestemont P., 2003. Hepatic accumulation and effects of microcystin-LR on juvenile goldfish Carassius auratus L. Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology, Part C., 39-48.
- Spano L., Tyler C.R., van Aerle R., Devos P., Mandiki S.N.M., Silvestre F., Thomé J.P. & Kestemont P., 2004. Effects of atrazine on sex steroid dynamics, plasma vitellogenin concentration and gonad development in adult goldfish Carassius auratus L. Aquatic Toxicology 66, 369-379.
- Mandiki S.N.M., Houbart M., Babiak I., Gardeur J.N., Vandeloise E. & Kestemont P., 2004. Are sex steroids involved in the sexual growth dimorphism in Eurasian perch juveniles? Physiology & Behavior 80, 603-609.
- Blanchard G., Druart X. & Kestemont P., 2005. Lipid content and fatty acid composition of target tissues in wild Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) females in relation to hepatic status and gonad maturation. Journal of Fish Biology 66, 73-85.
- Malbrouck C. & Kestemont P., 2006. Effects of mycrocystins on fish: a review. Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry, 25, 1, 72-86.
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