Environmental Science and Engineering Seminar

Global change includes both shifts in human activities that result in pollutant releases and changes in ecosystems and food webs in response to climate shifts. Both are rooted in the fossil fuel industry and affect human exposures to toxicants and a wide-array of negative public health consequences. This presentation will provide a simple framework for classifying the behavior of different anthropogenic contaminants in natural ecosystems and their response to climate driven alterations based on their physicochemical properties and historic release profiles. Case studies for mercury (Hg), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) cycling and accumulation in global marine ecosystems will be presented, leveraging from earth system science tools typically used to model carbon gases.