ENSC 201 Lecture 5: Fate and Bioaccumulation

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Environmental Studies
• Course: ENSC 201
• Professor: Louise M Winn

Document Summary

Fate of substances in the environment: over time, have transfer between "environmental compartments, can have individual behaviour of molecules or toxicants in mixtures, may also have chemical and biological transformation when moving, air, water, soil and sediment. Fate of substances in environment: persistence of a toxicant is related to how far it will travel in the environment, number of contaminated compartments, extend of geological range, extent of exposure. **we can detect chemicals that should only be able to be detected in warm environments in cold environments such as the north pole. This speaks volumes to the transportation of chemicals through wind, water etc. Bioconcentration- practical measurements: bioconcentration factor (bcf): measured with biological organisms, laboratory-based measurement, one toxicant molecule, controlled exposure, partition of toxicant into organism or tissue from external environment, related to hydrophobicity or lipophilicity (and kow) Bcf = ctissue/ cwater: ctissue is the level in the organism or lipid tissue, cwater is the level in the water.