Topic
Systems toxicology
Framing Question
How do toxicants move through the environment to affect ecosystems?
Learning Objectives
- Contrast the effects of environmental toxicants on r strategists versus K strategists.
- Describe, using examples, the role that toxicants can play in exerting selection pressures on populations.
- Contrast the effects of toxicants on predator populations, prey populations, and the interactions between them.
- Discuss how toxicants can alter ecosystem structure in terms of effects on energy flow and the trophic pyramid.
- Explain the concept of residence times for toxicants in the environment and compare and contrast the ways in which toxicants move through soil, atmosphere, and water.
- Explain the concepts of bioavailability and bioconcentration.
- Discuss examples of typical species used in ecotoxicological single-species testing.
- Compare and contrast the strengths and limitations of the most common methods of ecotoxicological testing including microcosms, mesocosms, field studies, and mathematical modeling.
- Identify important concepts in ecotoxicological risk assessment
