Programme/Approved Electives for 2022/23
None
Available as a Free Standing Elective
No
Aims
To provide a detailed understanding of ecotoxicology principles and practises and the science that underpins the discipline. To provide an in-depth understanding of how ecotoxicology data, once generated, is used to carry out environmental risk assessments and to generate environmental quality standards (EQS) that are critically important in environmental monitoring and assessment regimes.
Intended Learning Outcomes
critically assess and explain in detail a variety of ecotoxicology protocols and the scientific principles that underpin them: 2understand, construct and interpret dose response curves depicting biological responses to an applied stress: 1,2describe and comment on the ethical principles that guide ecotoxicology practises: 2source, compile and critically evaluate ecotoxicity data: 1use compiled ecotox data to conduct an environmental risk assessment and communicate the outcomes via a risk assessment report: 1
20h laboratory, discussion and workshop sessions130h directed and private study, including asynchronous recorded materials and assessment preparation.
Description of Module Assessment
1: Report weighted 70%2500 word Risk Assessment ReportRisk assessment report (~2500 words) based on evaluation and use of ecotoxicity data sourced from the literature.
2: Group Report weighted 30%Research planIn small groups (~4) Students must devise a set of experiments to determine ecotoxicity thresholds for a selected chemical (students select a chemical from a list). Students must describe and justify the experimental protocols they will use, including quality control measures and dose verification analysis, as well as describe how resulting data will be evaluated statistically to calculate ecotoxicity endpoints (e.g. No Observed Effects Concentrations). The research plan is presented in a ~2000 word report. All students within a group receive the same mark.