ABSTRACT

Interactions between environmental contaminants and ecological receptors are important for assessing risk, developing management objectives that protect the environment, and maintaining the health status of organisms. Despite numerous strategies to contain or minimize the release of fugitive chemical residues into the environment, organisms continue to be exposed to these potentially hazardous substances. As such, there continues to be a need for environmental and wildlife toxicologists to determine the effects of these chemical residues in water and soil. As basic toxicological information on a chemical is developed, scientists often shift their attention toward (1) more subtle endpoints beyond death, and/or (2) potential effects of the primary degradation products of the parent chemical. Such has largely been the case with munitions-related compounds (Talmage et al. 1999).