ISO2MET targets the impact on marine life of three trace metals with intensive industrial applications and high potential in marine ecotoxicology: zinc, copper, lithium (https://www.iso2met-project.fr/)

Trace metals play key roles in the metabolic cycles of marine organisms. Metal polllution may also be responsible for reproductive anomalies and ecological disturbance since the onset of the industrial era. Despite recent advances, the relationships between the concentrations of trace metals and marine biomass or biodiversity remain uncertain. Members of ISO2MET have evidenced that trace metals are isotopically fractionated in biological organisms. This offers a novel and unique approach to trace their mechanisms of accumulation, elimination and/or toxicity.ISO2MET targets three TM: lithium, zinc, copper. At the cellular levels, we quantify and model biological isotope fractionation performed by the major ion transporters. At the organism level, we perform high sensitivity isotopic measurements of plankton and plankton eaters collected in contrasted environments, and from cultures. We also explore bivalve shells and coral skeletons as new proxies in isotopic ecotoxicology.