FMI310 Environmental Pollutants and Ecotoxicology

Knowleagde:

• Students will acquire advanced knowledge about principles of ecotoxicology and the main challenges in the field.
• In-depth knowledge of main pollution sources in the environment ( e.g., metals and heavy metals, radionuclides and organic pollutants), about typical concentration levels, different species, mobility and transport processes in different ecosystems, biological uptake, bioaccumulation and biomagnification in organisms and physiological and biological effects.
• Introduced to modern analytical techniques applied within the field, and how ecotoxicological tools are used to evaluate risks and to identify chemical compounds being of main importance to the total cumulative effect and how effects can be identified by biomarkers.
• How environmental factors affect the distribution of various substances in the environment and their uptake and effects on organisms.
• Information required to perform risk assessment of environmental toxins

Skills:

• Explain the relationship between speciation, mobility and bioavailability and how effects can be identified through biomarkers (both for metals, radionuclides and organic pollutants).
• Explain how the environment can affect the biological toxicity of pollutants
• Be able to carry out risk assessments of pollutants individually and jointly for humans and the environment.
• Consider measures for individual pollutants that can reduce negative biological effects

General competence:

• Students should have sufficient knowledge of environmental toxins and effects on vulnerable ecosystems to conduct simple environmental studies in nature to evaluate risk
• Understand how environmental factors affect the environmental distribution and toxicity toxins
• Assess the risk of environmental toxins.
• Acquire an understanding of why assessments of long-term effects of pollutants is required to prevent negative impact onto vulnerable ecosystems.