The knowledge of the total concentration of an element in a medium, per se, doesn't permit to predict its impact in the Biosphere. Hence, it's also essential to distinguish and quantify the different species of the element in the sample, that is, to speciate the element.
The Chemical Speciation & Bioavailability Group devotes to the study of chemical speciation in environmental and biological systems.
The final goal is to provide additional information to the comprehension of the reciprocal interactions between living organisms and the surrounding chemical environment, falling, though, in the BioGeoChemistry domain. In other words we try to answer the following questions:
- How does the chemical composition of a medium influence the responses of an organism?
- How does the organisms influence the chemical composition of the surrounding medium?
| 