The SAS proposals for participation in FP6 projects
are listed in blocks according to the FP6 priority theme structure



FP6 priority
1.1.6   Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems
1.6.3
Title of the proposal

Environmental impact of the pollution on fish and parasite communities of Tisza River

Institute
Slovak Academy of Sciences, Parasitological Institute
Hlinkova 3, 040 01 Kosice, Slovak Republic
www.saske.sk~pauwww/pau.html
Contact
Name:
Vladimira HANZELOVA. Dr., D.Sc.
Phone:
+421 55 6334455
E-mail:
hanzel@saske.sk


Research subject for a potential FP6 project

The project focuses on investigation of fish and parasite communities of the Slovak part of Tisza River with the emphasis given to the restoration of species diversity affected by chemical pollution after series of accidents. The special objective of this project is monitoring of the metal pollution in the Tisza riverbed and evaluation of its impact on the genome of model aquatic organisms.

The length of Tisza River forming border among Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary was known as one of the richest aquatic ecosystems in Europe. According to former studies carried out by Molnar (1964, 1968), Gussev (1966), Zitnan (1967) and Ergens et al. (1975), a total of 53 fish and 284 fish parasites have been recorded from this area. In February 2000, serious cyanide and heavy metal pollution recorded as the worst in Europe in last years, caused a great destruction of the life in the river. Moreover, the river daily receives contamination from timber, engineering and metal industries and inadequately treated waste from the frontier Ukrainian cities.

Most recent observations showed that natural process of re-inhabitation of Tisza River is going rather intensively with species of macrofauna, but restoration of damaged microfauna to former richness is considerably slacking. According to preliminary monitoring, previously abundant gill and skin ectoparasites (monogeneas) and helminths with complex life cycles (digeneas and acanthocephalans) have been disappeared from this ecosystem but all.

The project proposes an investigation of Tisza River in close international co-operation with research groups dealing with abiotic a biotic compounds of ecosystems.


Recent international cooperation of the research team

Institute of Parasitology, CAS, Ceske Budėjovice, Czech Republic; Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland; Laboratory of Hydrobiology, INRA, Thonon, France; Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark; University of Barcelona, Faculty of Pharmacy, Barcelona, Spain


Proposer´s relevant publications related to the research subject

HANZELOVA, V.: Protocephalus neglectus as a possible indicator of changes in the ecological balance of aquatic environments. Journal of Helminthology, 66, 1992, p. 17-24.

HANZELOVA, V., SCHOLZ, T., GERDEAUX, D., de CHAMBRIER, A.: Endoparasitic helminths of fishes in three Alpine lakes in France and Switzerland. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 106, 1999, 581-590.

TURCEKOVA, L., HANZELOVA, V., SPAKULOVA, M.: Concentration of heavy metals in perch and its endoparasites in the polluted water reservoir in Eastern Slovakia. Helminthologia, 39, 2002, p. 23-28.