Integrated analysis of mobile organic xenobiotics in rivers (INTAFERE)
World-wide there are more than 100,000 chemicals in constant use. Up to now extensive eco-toxicological analyses are available only for a small fraction of them. This is also true for “mobile organic xenobiotics” (MOX), compounds that are highly water soluble and only poorly degradable by physico-chemical or biological processes. In fact there is evidence for a high biological activity even at trace levels for a number of MOX.Mobile organic xenobiotics are present in everyday materials and products like plastics, foams and personal care products. Via consumption and disposal they enter the waste waters and can be detected in rivers in environmentally relevant concentrations. For aquatic ecosystems and the natural water resources MOX thus constitute an hazard which is yet insufficiently explored. The interdisciplinary research project INTAFERE investigates the particular hazard of MOX for nature and society from an integrative perspective.
The aims of the subproject “Actor analysis and scenario building” are to perform a model-based analysis of the network of societal actors that are involved in the MOX problem field, and to develop scenarios of the future which support a sustainable water quality management.
Actor analysis and modelling: The different problem interpretations, goals, options and actions of the stakeholders are explored through qualitative interviews with representatives of different aggregated actors (e.g. producers of the substance classes of interest, water works, consumer and environmental organizations). The problem situation as perceived by each actor is represented in the software DANA („Dynamic Actor Network Analysis“) as a perception graph (= actor model). All perception graphs are combined to a semi-quantitative actor network, which includes common and different goals and options of the aggregated actors.
It is planned to extend the software DANA for analysing interactions within the actor network and for allowing the computation of a sequence of activities determined by interrelations in the actor network. The results of the computation will provide the basis for thescenario development, whichwill proceed in a participatory process with the stakeholders.
Figure 1: Perception graph of the Upper Water Authority
Keywords:actor analysis, actor modelling, dynamic actor network analysis, mobile organic xenobiotics, scenario building
Participants: Christiane Döll, Petra Döll
Cooperating institutions:
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Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE)
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Institut for Atmosphere and Environment, Environmental Analysis Group(Institut für Atmosphäre und Umwelt, Arbeitsgruppe Umweltanalytik)
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Institut for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Aquatic EcotoxicologyGroup (Institut für Ökologie, Evolution und Diversität, Arbeitsgruppe Ökotoxikologie)
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Institut for Computer Sciences, Computational Biology Group (Institut für Informatik, Arbeitsgruppe Bioinformatik)
Duration:April 2005 - May 2008
Funding entity: Hessian State Ministry for Science and Arts (Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst)
Contact: hydroloy@em.uni-frankfurt.de
