Lidia Vendrell Puigmitjà, a PhD student within the LIFE DEMINE project and member of BETA Technological Centre (Uvic-UCC), carried out a tree-month research stay at IRSTEA (National Institute for Environmental and Agricultural Science and Research), in Bordeaux, France.
Under the tutelage of Dr. Soizic Morin, from the Department of Aquatic Ecosystems and Global Change, Lidia Vendrell evaluated the environmental impact caused by the hypersaline mining effluent from Menteroda, the LIFE DEMINE demonstration site, on the aquatic biofilm. Specifically, they focused on diatom community and evaluated metrics such as diatom live/death ratio, size variability and species identification. The results obtained showed clear effects of the hypersaline effluent on the diatom community, including a reduction in their size and biodiversity.
Lidia Vendrell did this mobility with an Erasmus+ Traineeship scholarship for doctoral students of the UVic, and an aid from the same University for research stays outside of Catalonia.
