Postdoctoral position in modelling of multi-exposure risk indices to monitor the impact of pesticides on the fauna of agroecosystems

Context
Landscape alteration and plant protection products (PPP) are the main drivers of biodiversity loss. While PPP undoubtedly play a role in the decline of certain taxa in agricultural areas (aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates and certain guilds of birds), their contribution is strongly suspected for many other terrestrial vertebrate taxa. Some of these taxa are in serious global and national decline, such as amphibians and chiropterans, but knowledge remains incomplete and insufficient to infer the causes at the population level in nature.
The environment (soil, water, air and biota) contains PPP residues, parent molecules and/or transformation products in mixtures composed of up to several dozen compounds (fungicides, herbicides and insecticides) belonging to different chemical families. This implies multiple exposures for wildlife. Small mammals and birds are involved in many ecological functions within agroecosystems, including the regulation of crop pests. They are also central to risk assessment as focal/sentinel species in risk (re-)assessments and as model species for ecotoxicological testing (or pharmacological testing regarding mice and rats). However, apart from laboratory studies, there has been little research on population-based ecotoxicological effects in wild mammals.
Based on these high-risk taxa, the MIND project aims to develop toxicokinetic (TK) models applied to wildlife in agricultural landscapes and to provide user-friendly tools for assessing and monitoring population exposure.

Responsabilities
The aim of the postdoctoral project is to develop multi-exposure risk indices based on measurements of pesticide concentrations in hair or feathers of wild vertebrates. These risk indices will be based on exposure-impregnation-effect models, which will make it possible to reconstruct the history of exposure at the scale of agricultural landscapes and to provide quantitative tools for monitoring the ecotoxicological effects associated with pesticide mixtures.

Tasks
The successful candidate will:
1. collect ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolisation, excretion) toxicokinetic (TK) information on substances from public databases and marketing authorisations (MA).
2. develop physiologically based toxico-kinetics (PBTK) models applied to wildlife in order to build tools for assessing population exposure.