Research lines

We study the direct effects of water pollution on freshwater fauna and how the presence of vegetation modulates their responses. This question is highly timely for ecosystem management, given the spread of non-native plants across catchments, the stream regreening that often occur after land-use abandonment, and the increased use of vegetation as Nature-based Solution (NbS) for wastewater treatment.

To address this question, we develop and apply indicators of impact on individual animals, communities, and food webs within a One Health vision. This allows us to assess whether human-modified ecosystems can function as "bioreactors" that mobilise and export chemical pollutants, pathogens, or nuisance insects, thereby posing risks to local biodiversity and public health.

The sections below present the ecological and public health relevance of human-modified freshwaters and NbS, alongside our One Health diagnostic framework, illustrated with examples from our research.

Human-modified freshwater ecosystems

Human activities have profoundly altered freshwater ecosystems and their riparian zones, generating both ecological and public health risks. Terrestrial landscapes are increasingly drained by human-modified waterways, such as urban rivers, agricultural ponds, and wetland-based wastewater-treatment systems. Although some animal species thrive in these often polluted waters, they may facilitate the spread of harmful chemicals and pathogens to other wildlife, livestock, and ultimately humans. At the same time, pollution-driven loss of sensitive species disrupts food webs and can promote habitat generalist, low-conservation taxa, such as mosquito pests and invasive species.

Nature-based Solutions

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are an increasingly adopted and cost-effective strategy for restoring freshwater ecosystems. NbS enhance water and habitat quality promoting natural ecosystem processes through planting vegetation and boosting populations of filter-feeding organisms. Compared with conventional wastewater-treatment systems, NbS offer a more affordable and sustainable alternative for many small and medium-sized communities with limited sanitation infrastructure. NbS also provide key ecological benefits, such as the creation of permanent aquatic habitats in semi-arid regions. For these reasons, a key topic of our research is to evaluate how NbS influence species, habitats, and ecological processes.

Our One-Health toolkit

We assess the ecological benefits and potential risks of NbS through a One Health lens, explicitly integrating biodiversity conservation interests and public health. Our approach uses multiple animal groups as bioindicators and examines responses across different levels of biological organization, from individuals to communities and food webs. 

Initially focused on fish, our work now adopts a broader food-web perspective that includes microeukaryotes, crustaceans, and medically relevant insects, primarily mosquitoes. We employ an individual-scale assessment to detect sublethal effects arising from altered water properties or vegetation structure due to NbS implementation. We also conduct a community-scale assessment to evaluate ecosystem-wide responses and the potential implications for public health.

We focus primarily on microbial contamination (e.g., Escherichia coli and amoeba), excessive nutrient levels (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus), and metals (e.g., mercury, lead, and arsenic), all of which remain major drivers of water degradation in urban and agricultural systems. We also investigate emerging contaminants and interactions within complex pollutant mixtures, which is key in the management of NbS under global change.