HW2:4499
From Environmental Technology
[edit] Homework 2
1. Endocrine disrupter - This is a synthetic chemical in which can infect a host if consumed by stopping hormones from working and corrupting the body's normal functions. These chemicals can affect us in many ways relating to our hormones, some of these chemicals are Dioxin, PCB's and DDT. Not only humans but all life can be affected by these harmful chemicals including plants and even water life.
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/qendoc.asp
2. Ecotoxicology - This is the study of the world and its ecosystems and how they are and can be effected by different chemicals and pollutants. They study how we can help fix our problems with ecological emergency's. Many of the pollutants are synthetic and hopefully methods can be changed to help create more ecosystem friendly chemicals if at all possible.
3. Ecological risk assessment - Tests are done to see if certain chemicals are fit to be used in our ecosystems. They must go through tests called Ecological risk assessments. They are done to insure that the chemicals such as pestisides are not causing an alteration in our ecosystem in turn creating harmful results either short or long term.
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/ecosystem/ecorisk.htm
4. Bioaccumulation - In the past many chemicals and pollutants were disposed of in improper ways. These chemicals to this day are being consumed and absorbed throughout the world. Bioaccumulation is the process of a collection of chemicals being some how absorbed into an organism with harmful results.
5. Emerging disease - These are diseases that can spread from animal to human and have a high risk factor. They can be carried at by a host that doesn't even know that it had been infected. They can show no signs or symptoms for many years and one day pass it on to someone or some thing that reacts much different. Some of these diseases are West Nile, Lyme Disease, and the Asian Bird Flu.
http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases
6. Pollution - Pollution is any chemical or material than is harmful to the ecosystem in which is not natural to that environment. There are many types of pollutants, such as Air pollution, water pollution, and radioactive polution. There are many more and each one contributes negative results.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution
7. Biological amplication or biological magnification - This is where the organism's at the top of the food chain are sustaining large amounts of DDT's or other harmful pollutants. They had eaten other organisims that contained that chemical in lower amounits but ate many of them which resulted with the higher percentage. The organism's that were eaten had also eaten plants which contained the chemical and was the first sources of the pollutant or insesticide.
http://oaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.navigate_term?p_term_id=6326&p_term_cd=TERM
8. Carcinogen - This is some sort of matter or material in which causes cancer. There a few different types of carcinogen's in total of about 60. These carcinogens are very dangerous and can be found in many of the cars and objects made throughout the 1900's. As of now many restriction have been put into action to help stop the spread of more carcinogens.
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2625
9. Environmental stressor - There are many types of environmental stressors. Some of them are man made and some are just brought from other ecosystems. People and other organisms must deal with these factor's everyday. Some of these stressors are chemicals and some of them are other organisms. In the end we need to try to limit and learn to adapt to these stressors.
http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/def/cwa_cause_class_def.html
10. Red Tides - In certain area's around the world there are times where millions of organism's called phytoplankton release toxins into the water contaminating anything that it contacts. These red tides cause many problems for the people who live along the coast. They can have respitory irritation as well as itching of the skin.
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/fisheries/fisheries3.htm
