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CAPIM collaborates with government and industry on interdisciplinary pollution research that provides solutions for a healthier, safer and more sustainable future.
The Centre for Anthropogenic Pollution Impact and Management (CAPIM) is an interdisciplinary research centre based at the University of Melbourne. We collaborate with our partners to ensure both research excellence and real-world impact.
Our interdisciplinary research concentrates on the identification of pollution in the environment – in water, soil, air and waste – and impact assessments and management strategies for human health and ecological sustainability.
Our expertise includes:
- Traditional pollutants (e.g. metals, nitrogen and hydrocarbons);
- Emerging contaminants such as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and microplastics; and
- Nonchemical pollutants, such as light and noise.
Our research provides evidence-based outcomes that are used by government, industry and the community to determine risks, make decisions and more safely manage polluted environments.
Our interdisciplinary team of researchers have expertise in:
- Human health and environmental risk assessment
- Chemical fate and behaviour
- (Eco)toxicology including humans, vertebrates, invertebrates, plants and microbes
- Exposure science
- Environmental and analytical chemistry
- Environmental forensics
- Modelling and pollutant transport
- Decision making and science communication
- Engineering and remediation
We deliver science for:
- Development and implementation of policy and regulation
- Regulatory decision making
- Contaminated site assessments and audits
- Pollution impact risk assessment and management
- Informing sustainable and safe practices
- Contaminated site clean-up and remediation
- Support for adoption of novel and innovative technologies and approaches
- Commercializing novel pollution technologies
- New patents
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2021
De Silva, S. Ball, A.S., Indrapala, D.V., Reichman, S.M., 2021. Review of the interactions between vehicular emitted potentially toxic elements, roadside soils, and associated biota, Chemosphere, 263: 128135, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128135.
2020
Alcantara, H.J.P., Jativa, F., Doronila, .I., Anderson, C.W.N., Siegele, R., Spassov, T.G., Sanchez-Palacios, J.T., Boughton, B.A. and Kolev, S.D. 2020. Localization of mercury and gold in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz). Environmental Science and Pollution Research 27(15): 18498–509, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08285-3.
Askland, M., Clarke, B.O., Cheema, A.A., Mendez, A.,Gasco, G. and Paz-Ferreiro, J. 2020. Biochar sorption of PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS and PFHxA in two soils with contrasting texture. Chemosphere 249: 126072, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126072.
Bahrami, S., Yaftian, M.R., Najvak. P., Dolatyari, L., Shayani-Jam, H., and Kolev, S.D. 2020. PVDF-HFP based polymer inclusion membranes containing cyphos (R) IL 101 and aliquat (R) 336 for the removal of Cr(VI) from sulfate solutions. Separation and Purification Technology 250: 117251, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2020.117251.
Behroozi, A., Arora, M., Fletcher, T.D., and Western, A.W. 2020. Sorption and transport behavior of zinc in the soil: implications for stormwater management. Geoderma, 367: 114243, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114243.
Carner, C.A., Crofts, C.F., Kolev, S.D., and Almeida, M.I.G.S. Green solvents for the fabrication of polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs). Separation and Purification Technology 239: 116486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2019.116486.
de Silva, S., Huynh, T., Ball, A.S., Indrapala, D.V. and Reichman, S.M. 2020 Measuring soil metal bioavailability in roadside soils of different ages. Environments 7: 91, doi:10.3390/environments7100091. (https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/7/10/91, open access)
Durrant, J., Green, M.P. and Jones, T.M. Dim artificial light at night reduces the cellular immune response of the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus. Insect Science 27: 571–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.12665.
Govers, L.C., Harper, A.P., Finger, B.J., Mattiske, D.M., Pask, A.J. and Green, M.P. 2020. “Atrazine induces penis abnormalities including hypospadias in mice. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 11: 246–49, https://doi.org/10.1017/S2040174419000473.
Gu, Z., de Silva, S. and Reichman, S.M. 2020. Arsenic concentrations and dietary exposure in rice-based infant food in Australia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17: 415, doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020415
Gupta, S., Schillaci, M., Walker, R., Smith, P.M.C., Watt, M. and Roessner, U. 2020. Alleviation of salinity stress in plants by endophytic plant-fungal symbiosis: current knowledge, perspectives and future directions. Plant and Soil, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04618-w.
Hanada, T., Firmansyah, M.L., Yoshida, W., Kubota, F., Kolev, S.D. and Goto, M. 2020. Transport of rhodium(III) from chloride media across a polymer inclusion membrane containing an ionic liquid metal ion carrier. Acs Omega 5: 12989–12995, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.0c00867.
Hassell, K.L., Coggan, T.L., Cresswell, T., Kolobaric, A., Berry, K., Crosbie, N.D., Blackbeard, J., Pettigrove, V.J., and Clarke, B.O. 2020. Dietary optake and depuration kinetics of perfluorooctane sulfonate, perfluorooctanoic acid, and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (GenX) in a benthic fish.” Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 39: 595–603. https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.4640.
Homayoonzadeh, M., Moeini,P., Talebi, K., Roessner, U., and Hosseininaveh, V.. Antioxidant system status of cucumber plants under pesticides treatment. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 42: 161, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-020-03150-9.
Kuswandi, B., Nitti, F., Almeida, M.I.G.S., and Kolev, S.D. 2020. Water monitoring using polymer inclusion membranes: a review. Environmental Chemistry Letters, 18: 129–50, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-019-00930-9.
Layton, C., Coleman, M.A., Marzinelli, E.M., Steinberg, P.D., Swearer, S.E., Verges, A., Wernberg, T. and Johnson, C.R. 2020. Kelp forest restoration in Australia. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7: 74, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00074.
Martelli, F., Zhongyuan, Z., Wang, J., Wong, C.-O., Karagas, N.E., Roessner, U., Rupasinghe, T. View Venkatachalam, K., Perry, T., Bellen, H.J., and Batterham, P. 2020. Low doses of the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid induce ROS triggering neurological and metabolic impairments in Drosophila.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117: 25840–25450, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2011828117.
McGrath, T.J., Kolobaric, A., Lee, E., and Clarke, B.O. 2020. Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in Western Australian biosolids and implications for land application. Chemosphere, 260: 127601, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127601.
Netherway, P., Gascó, G., Méndez, A., Surapaneni, A., Reichman, S., Shah, K., Paz-Ferreiro, J. 2020. Using phosphorus-rich biochars to remediate lead-contaminated soil: Influence on soil enzymes and extractable P. Agronomy 10: 454, doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10040454.
Okada, E., Allinson, M., Barral, M.P., Clarke, B., and Allinson, G. 2020. “Glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) are commonly found in urban streams and wetlands of Melbourne, Australia.” Water Research, 168: 115139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2019.115139.
Pozo, K., Urbin, W., Gómez, V., Torres, M., Nuñez, D., Přibylová, P., Audy, O., Clarke, B., Arias, A., Tombesi, N., Guidah, Y., Klánováa, K., 2020 Persistent organic pollutants sorbed in plastic resin pellet – ‘nurdles’ from coastal areas of central Chile. Marine Pollution Bulletin 151: 110786, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110786.
Ribas, T.C.F., Croft, C.F., Almeida, M.I.G.S., Mesquita, R.B.R., Kolev, S.D., and Rangel, A.O.S.S. 2020. Use of a polymer inclusion membrane and a chelating resin for the flow-based sequential determination of copper(II) and zinc(II) in natural waters and soil leachates. Molecules 25: 5062, https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25215062.
Sarabia, L.D., Boughton, B.A., Rupasinghe, T., Callahan, D.L., Hill, C.B., and Roessner, U. 2020. “Comparative spatial lipidomics analysis reveals cellular lipid remodelling in different developmental zones of barley roots in response to salinity.” Plant Cell and Environment 43: 327–43, https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.13653.
Seraj, M.F., Rahman, T., Lawrie, A.C., and Reichman, S.M. 2020. Assessing the plant growth promoting and arsenic tolerance potential of Bradyrhizobium japonicum CB1809. Environmental Management 66: 930–939, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01351-z.
Steinemann, A., Nematollahi, N., Rismanchi, B., Goodman, N., and Spas D. Kolev, S.D. 2020. Pandemic products and volatile chemical emissions.” Air Quality Atmosphere and Health, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00912-9.
Steinemann, A., Nematollahi, N., Weinberg, J.L., Flattery, J., Goodman, N., and Kolev, S.D. 2020. Volatile chemical emissions from car air fresheners.” Air Quality Atmosphere and Health, 13: 1329–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00886-8.
Wei, Z., Gao, B., Cheng, K.Y., Kaksonen, A.H., Kolev, S.D., Wong, J.W.C., and Cui, J. 2020. “Exploring the use of Dicranopteris pedata ash as a rare earth fertilizer to Ipomoea aquatica Forsskal. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 400:123207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123207.
Yu, D., Boughton, B.A., Hill, C.B., Feussner, I., Roessner, U., and Rupasinghe. T.W.T. 2020. Insights into oxidized lipid modification in barley roots as an adaptation mechanism to salinity stress. Frontiers in Plant Science 11: 1, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00001.
Zhang, Y., Chen, C.-X., Feng, H.-P., Wang, X.-J., Roessner, U., Walker, R., Cheng, Z.-Y., An, Y.-Q., Binghai Du, B., and Bai, J.-G. 2020. Transcriptome profiling combined with activities of antioxidant and soil enzymes reveals an ability of Pseudomonas Sp. CFA to mitigate p-hydroxybenzoic and ferulic acid stresses in cucumber.” Frontiers in Microbiology 11: 522986, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.522986.