Unit 6: Ecotoxicology

Question 1

What is toxicology

Answer 1

the scientific study of poisons and their effects on biota including humans.

Question 2

What is ecotoxicology

Answer 2

Ecotoxicology encompasses toxicology but also considers the action of these toxic substances on ecosystem dynamics and therefore includes consideration of populations and community-based responses among species.

Question 3

Dilution Paragram

Answer 3

When the human population was small and spread out, our understanding of chemicals were limited. During this time, the toxins produced by humanity were able to be diluted, and their negative properties removed. Nowadays, the population is so large that you can detect chemicals basically everywhere, and they are unable to be diluted due to the volume of them.

Question 4

Dose

Answer 4

The amount of a chemical an organism is exposed to

Question 5

exposure

Answer 5

the amount of time an organism was exposed to a chemical

Question 6

persistence

Answer 6

the amount of time a chemical resides in an environment

Question 7

Water soluble toxins

Answer 7

polar compounds that easily dissolve in water but are unable to cross the fatty cell membranes. these types of chemicals can move easily throughout the environment however, they can also be more readily excreted through kidney function

Question 8

Oil-or fat-soluble toxins

Answer 8

are non-polar compounds that can penetrate the cell membranes. a key feature of oil-or fat-soluble toxins is that they can accumulate in fatty tissues and organs, leading to bioaccumulation.

Question 9

Biomagnification

Answer 9

How bioaccumulation increases drastically with trophic level

Question 10

synergistic interaction,

Answer 10

chemicals combine to cause a multiplied/exponential increase in the toxicological properties.

Question 11

antagonistic interaction

Answer 11

Chemicals combine to reduce the overall toxicity of the compound

Question 12

acute effect

Answer 12

an Immediate response to a toxin, often associated with a large dose

Question 13

chronic effect

Answer 13

Long term and slow response due to long term exposure in low dose

Question 14

The Grasshopper effect

Answer 14

Because ocean (ocean thermohaline circulation) and atmospheric currents (convective cells), toxins are able to travel great distances and enter what were previously pristine ecosystems far away from industrialized regions. The long range transport of contaminants is analogous to a grasshopper leaping from one location to another and is, therefore, commonly called the grasshopper effect.

Question 15

Narrow spectrum pesticides

Answer 15

pesticides that only effect the target organism

Question 16

broad spectrum pesticides

Answer 16

pesticides that effect a large amount of organisms

Question 17

Hazard

Answer 17

refers to the combination of toxicity and intensity of exposure. Hazards include chemicals, geological catastrophes/severe weather events, biological hazards, such as pathogens, and cultural activities such as drinking and driving and smoking.

Question 18

Risk

Answer 18

the probability that a substance will be harmful to humans and biota. It involves hazard identification and toxicity evaluation, exposure assessment to determine all of the ways in which organisms may encounter the chemical, and risk characterization to reflect on the probability of harmful consequences.