ABSTRACT
The area of ecotoxicology that addresses the transport of a compound from one environmental compartment to the next is known as chemodynamics. Therefore, the effects of a chemical in the environment depends on its dynamics in the four compartments of the ecosphere, air, water, soil or sediments, and biota. To understand the effect of a pollutant on organisms in an ecosystem, an understanding of relevant ecological terms and concepts are important. Some sublethal effects may be visually undetectable but with physiological or biochemical means can be identified. Unfortunately, the use of biomarkers for ecotoxicological effects has not progressed as far as it has in the mammalian system. Experimental animals and animals in the environment can be exposed to toxicants over four different time frames: acute, subacute, subchronic, and chronic exposure. In determining the relationship between dose and response, it is necessary to distinguish between the dose or environmental concentration and the amount of the chemical that reaches the target tissue.
