- 건국대학교

	Prof. Youn-joo Ahn’s team Confirms the Possibility of ‘Floating Watermoss’ being used as a test species for Ecotoxicity evaluation
	관리자		501		2019.03.28

Sensitive to toxic chemicals such as heavy metals (nickel) and pesticides (acetic acid) Professor Youn-joo Ahn (Department of Environmental Health Sciences) of Konkuk University has recently confirmed with the research team of the National Institute of Biological Resources of the Ministry of Environment that ‘Floating watermoss’ is sensitive to harmful chemicals such as heavy metals and pesticides, and the plant is likely to be used as a test species to measure ecotoxicity.
 <img style="margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto;" alt="" src="ArticleFile.do?id=11758062" /> 
Floating watermoss is an annual anthracnose fern that is widely distributed in domestic lakes, reservoirs and ponds. It is expected to be a native plant that can test ecotoxicity because it is easy to collect and grow well in a laboratory environment. In the meantime, as an ecotoxicity test species, organisms cultivated in overseas specialized research institutes such as big flea, crucian carp, and sea lion were utilized. Therefore, the need to use native species as a test species has been steadily raised in order to clarify the effects of toxic chemicals on the domestic ecosystems. Professor Ahn’s research team and National Institute of Biological Resources have studied the phytoplankton as a project to localize and standardize ecological control species using domestic native species since last year. The lower EC50 value of 0.9mg / ℓ was found in the samples collected from Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do when it was exposed to heavy metal nickel (0.25 ~ 2mg / ℓ) for 7 days, compared to previous research EC50 value of 2.14 mg / ℓ for nickel. In general, lower-toxicity organisms can be used for sensitive toxicity testing.
 <img style="margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto;" alt="" src="ArticleFile.do?id=11758056" /><Floating watermoss> 
In addition, it was observed by exposure to acetic acid (1 ~ 300mg / ℓ) as a pesticide. As a result, significant result was found that the number and area of leaves decreased with increased concentration. The researchers will conduct further studies to further test the response of other harmful chemicals, such as environmental hormones, to the ecotoxicity standard test species in the future, by conducting further comparative experiments with foreign species. To be accepted as a standard test species for ecotoxicity, Floating watermoss must be certified by internationally recognized organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). According to the current Water Environment Conservation Act and the Pesticide Management Act, 27 kinds of ecosystem ecotoxicity test species such as big flea, crucian carp, and sea urchin are used, and most of them are living organisms grown in Japan, USA and Germany. Professor Ahn said, "We plan to continue to identify the value of the Korean native species together with the management of a healthy ecosystem by evaluating the effects of harmful chemicals using Korean native species such as Floating watermoss."


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