FWO sabbatical 2021-2022 (Prof. G. De Boeck).

This sabbatical will be an excellent opportunity to explore old and new ideas, bounce these ideas off international peers, look for new collaborations and develop a research strategy for the next decade. Therefore, the focus of my sabbatical leave will revolve around three main action points:1. Resolve the mystery around the mechanistic basis leading to the unusually high toxicity and bioaccumulation of silver in elasmobranchs and conduct a survey over different species.2. Explore and familiarise myself with minimally-invasive and in vitro techniques that will not only become a powerful tool in my future research but also fit within the general effort to improve animal welfare following the 3R principle (replacement, reduction, refinement). These techniques are not limited to their use in elasmobranch research, but can be extended to teleosts and other aquatic organisms.3. On the go, collect elasmobranch tissue samples and data, and explore new collaborations for a future research line which will be developed in the next years on chronic stress indicators in elasmobranchs and teleosts. With continuously ongoing climate change and habitat degradation, understanding the effects and consequences of chronic stress and evaluating stress responsiveness and environmental tolerances relative to environmental change is rapidly gaining importance. It is at the core of conservation physiology which aims to integrate physiological knowledge into ecosystem management and into tools to solve complex conservation problems. In addition, it is essential for assessing animal welfare in fast growing activities such as aquaculture.

Keywords:AQUATIC ECOLOGY, ECOPHYSIOLOGY, ECOTOXICOLOGY

Disciplines:Animal morphology, anatomy and physiology, Aquatic sciences, challenges and pollution not elsewhere classified