Dear Colleagues,

I would like to bring to your attention a special session focusing on
the trace element biogeochemistry at the ASLO 2012 summer meeting (see
below for session description).The meeting will be held in Lake Biwa,
Japan from July 8-13 2012.
Abstracts can be submitted at: http://www.aslo.org/meetings/japan2012/
The deadline for abstract submission is March 1st 2012.

If you have any questions about this session please do not hesitate to
contact us (celinegueguen@trentu.ca, Claude.Fortin@ete.inrs.ca).

Kind regards,
Celine Gueguen, Claude Fortin

SS48: Trace Element Biogeochemistry

Celine Gueguen (Trent University, Canada)
Claude Fortin (Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Canada)

Trace metals play a key role in environmental and biological systems.
Anthropogenic activities since industrialization have contributed to
increase the mobility of essential and non-essential elements. The
different forms in which they occur, commonly referred to as
speciation, are critical in determining their bioavailability and fate
in natural aquatic systems. It is thus of importance to distinguish
between different forms or species of a metal in solution and to
understand the mechanisms regulating metal bioavailability. Our
understanding of the complex processes involving natural ligands such
as the ubiquitous dissolved organic matter is still in its infancy.
These heterogeneous and polyfunctional molecules can bind metals but
can also react with biological surfaces (e.g. algal membranes, fish
gills, etc.) and there is a need to better understand these
interactions and their influence on the biota. Significant progress
was achieved in the last decade with equilibrium approaches such the
Biotic Ligand Model to predict metal uptake and toxicity to aquatic
organisms but their universal application remains a challenge. This
session welcomes abstract submissions related to all aspects of
speciation and biodynamics of bio-reactive elements in aquatic
systems.