A. CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION: 

Prerequisites: BIOL 211A, B, 340; CHEM 320A or 327, all with grade of "C"or better. BIOL 353 and CHEM 448 or 441A,B recommended. 

An in depth study of the interactions between anthropogenic chemicals and aquatic ecosystems. Topics include the origin, fate, chemical and biological detection and quantification of pollutants and their impact at the molecular, biochemical, cellular, physiological, organismal and community levels of organization. Individual research project required. (Lecture 3hrs). 

Class material will focus on: 

a) methods for detecting, identifying and quantifying pollutants and ascertaining their points of input into the ecosystem; 

b) the physico/chemical speciation of different organic and inorganic pollutants in aquatic environments and their modes of accumulation, storage, depuration and
detoxification by organisms; 

c) establishing cause-effect relationships, 

d) discriminating between acute responses and chronic effects such as teratogenesis, mutagenesis and carcinogenesis; 

e) The application of animal models in predicting and assessing risk to human health. 

B. COURSE OBJECTIVES: 

Biology 464 is an upper division Special Topics course in Aquatic Toxicology. Over the past couple of decades there has been increasing concern over the deleterious effects of anthropogenic chemicals and pollutants on aquatic organisms and the ecosystems in which they dwell. The discipline of aquatic toxicology aims to study the mode and mechanisms of entry of these pollutants into the aquatic ecosystem and to elucidate, not only their fate, but also the potential impacts, hazards and risks posed by these compounds on the health of individual organisms and the community structures they inhabit. One of the major hurdles in aquatic toxicology is establishing "cause-effect" relationships. This is a particularly difficult task given the fact that thousands of xenobiotic compounds may exist simultaneously within a given aquatic environment and that numerous new compounds are being developed and released daily from the herbicide, pesticide, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. 

The complexity of the effluents in aquatic systems presents a number of challenges to the toxicologist. The first problem is analytical, in that any meaningful assessment of water quality must require the chemical identification and quantification of the various potentially toxic compounds. The course will discuss some of the different chemical and biological analytical strategies that have been used for water quality assessment and will discuss some of their strengths and limitations in terms of being able to accurately quantify the various physico/chemical species of the pollutant. Physico/chemical identification is important since these compounds are often empirically similar but occur as different stereo isomers or chemical species with vastly different toxicities. Similarly, accurate quantification is necessary since many organisms show deleterious effects only when the concentrations of the pollutant in the water or cellular constituents exceed a critical "threshold" value. 

Depending upon the relative toxicity of the compound in question, these effective concentrations within the environment may vary from micro trace quantities to percentage levels. The course will also discuss the interpretational complexities resulting from synergistic and antagonistic effects between chemicals. Students will also be exposed to some of the classical methodologies and concepts behind both in situ and in vitro aquatic toxicity testing and the biological "end-points" used to assess degree of effect. Particular attention will be paid on the uptake, bioaccumulation and excretion of specific classes of xenobiotics compounds by organisms and their biotransformation and metabolism. The mechanisms of biochemical and molecular action of these compounds will be studied and related to physiological and genetic phenomena such as organismal acclimation, adaptation and resistance. Recent advances in our understanding of these process and our ability to utilize this knowledge to develop molecular techniques using recombinant DNA technologies to solve specific toxicological questions will also be dealt with in depth.