title: Aquatic Global Passive Sampling (AQUA-GAPS) Revisited: First Steps toward a Network of Networks for Monitoring Organic Contaminants in the Aquatic Environment.
abstract: Organic contaminants, in particular persistent organic pollutants (POPs), adversely affect water quality and aquatic food webs across the globe. As of now, there is no globally consistent information available on concentrations of dissolved POPs in water bodies. The advance of passive sampling techniques has made it possible to establish a global monitoring program for these compounds in the waters of the world, which we call the Aquatic Global Passive Sampling (AQUA-GAPS) network. A recent expert meeting discussed the background, motivations, and strategic approaches of AQUA-GAPS, and its implementation as a network of networks for monitoring organic contaminants (e.g., POPs and others contaminants of concern). Initially, AQUA-GAPS will demonstrate its operating principle via two proof-of-concept studies focused on the detection of legacy and emerging POPs in freshwater and coastal marine sites using both polyethylene and silicone passive samplers. AQUA-GAPS is set up as a decentralized network, which is open to other participants from around the world to participate in deployments and to initiate new studies. In particular, participants are sought to initiate deployments and studies investigating the presence of legacy and emerging POPs in Africa, Central, and South America.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island , Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882-1197, United States.
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8796-3229
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lohmann
authors.affiliation: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, 867 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, Ontario Canada L7S 1A1.|School of Environment, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposure and Health and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan University , Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposure and Health and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan University , Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Eddy Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposure and Health and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan University , Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Lian-Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) , Gaustadalleen 21, NO-0349 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Ian J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Allan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Makerere University , P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arinaitwe
authors.affiliation: PaSOC, Greate Pierwei 25, 8821 LV Kimswerd, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kees
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3962-3155
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Booij
authors.affiliation: Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, Toronto, Ontario Canada M9P 3 V6.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Helm
authors.affiliation: The Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland , 39 Kessels Road, Coopers Plains, Queensland 4108, Australia.
authors.forename: Sarit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaserzon
authors.affiliation: The Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland , 39 Kessels Road, Coopers Plains, Queensland 4108, Australia.
authors.forename: Jochen F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.affiliation: Center for Environmental Measurement and Analysis, National Institute for Environmental Studies , 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University , Kamenice 5/573, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Foppe
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1018-0063
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Smedes
authors.affiliation: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography , Gournes, Crete Greece.
authors.forename: Manolis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsapakis
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposure and Health and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan University , Guangzhou 510632, China.|Richardson College for the Environment, University of Winnipeg , Winnipeg Manitoba R3B 2E9 Canada.
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposure and Health and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan University , Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4006-8339
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: You
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005618:Fresh Water; D006801:Humans; D014867:Water; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D060753:Water Quality
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014867:Water