Title: The use of sentinel organisms in the environmental monitoring of aquatic environments.

Course Objective: The objective of this course is to develop a metric that can be used to match the chemical structure of an environmental contaminant to the appropriate animal taxa most suitable for environmental monitoring.

Course Overview: Environmental forensics can be complicated due to the transient nature of chemicals contaminants. Sentinel organisms can be used to help identify the chemicals released into the environment, even when the chemical concentration is very low, or when the chemical has been biotransformed into metabolites.  Not all sentinel organisms, however, are equally suitable for all class of chemicals. This workshop will provide attendees with metrics that can be used to help identify suitable taxa that are most valuable for environmental monitoring, depending upon attributes of the chemicals of interest.

Draft Agenda:

Hour 1

1. Introduction: Animals as sentinel organisms – Biomarkers of exposure

2. Contaminants 1. Metals

3. Contaminants 2. Lipid soluble, nonbiotransformable compounds (Persistent Organic Pollutants)

4. Contaminants 3. Water soluble, nonbiotransformable compounds (Persistent and Mobile Organic Compounds (PMOCs))

Hour 2

5. Animals as sentinel organisms – Biomarkers of effect / Adverse outcome pathways

6. Organism suitability for monitoring biotransformable compounds

7. Biomarkers of exposure and their use in environmental monitoring

8. Animals as sentinel organisms – A matter of trade offs

Laptops are not required for this course.

Course Length: 2 Hours