José M. Ruiz

I am a biologist, with a BSc in Bilbao (UPV, Spain) and a PhD in Plymouth (MBA-PML, UK); I later did a post-doc in Arcachon-Bordeaux (LOB and UB I, France). Since 1995 I teach Ecology in the UDC (Coruña, Spain), as a full professor from 2012. My research deals with environmental quality, particularly with the effects of metallic pollution in estuaries and coasts. In 1996 our team started investigating the extent of tributyltin (TBT) pollution from antifouling paints, in Galicia and in the rest of the national North Atlantic coast. This work included the assessment of both imposex in gastropods (mainly Nucella lapillus and Tritia reticulata) and their butyltin (TBT, DBT and MBT) body residues. As a result, we have been regularly contracted by the Spanish authorities to carry out the TBT biomonitoring mandated by the OSPAR Commission and the EU. Such a vigilance has demonstrated that the imposex Ecological Quality Objective has recently been achieved in our coasts, in line with observations elsewhere in Atlantic Europe. In addition, our findings imply that some recurrent TBT desoption. from sediments is delaying water quality recovery. I would like to pursue this subject as well as others related to the marine environment.