The project is located at the convergence of three disciplinary directions: biogeochemistry of metals, ecotoxicology of metals and mathematical modeling of the bioremediation of contaminated areas. A major priority in the biogeochemistry of metals is the coupling of knowledge at micro scales with that of metal cycling processes at the scale of socio-ecological systems.

A research priority in the ecotoxicology of metals is to expand knowledge about the effects of metals through research in real, large-scale ecosystems and ecosystem complexes

• Communications:

  1) contaminated sites are complex ecosystems,

  2) modeling presupposes the existence of some knowledge of biogeochemistry and ecotoxicology, bioremediation actions can be seen as relevant in situ experiments for studying cycling and the effects of metals. In this context, the project proposes the construction of a coherent portfolio of holistic and mechanistic models at meso and macro scales about the cycling of metals in two complex ecosystems: one intensely polluted, the other with moderate pollution. The meso level is approached experimentally using lysimeters with undisturbed soil, and the macro level is approached through field research of local biogeochemical circuits.

• Objectives:

  1. The development of macro-, spatially explicit mathematical models about the bioaccumulation of metals in plants and their transfer to surface and groundwater.

  2. The development of meso-, spatially non-explicit mathematical models about the bioaccumulation of metals in plants and their transfer from the vegetal layer by leaching.

  The models resulting from objectives 1 and 2 should be verified and mutually coherent, and this could have been the third objective of the project. However, the picture can be further complicated by considering the dynamics of climate systems to simulate the behavior of climate-forced ecosystems in terms of metal biogeochemistry. So we decided to have the following form of the third objective of the project:

  3. Reciprocal adjustments of models simulating the dynamics of metal mobility in the context of climate change.