Ecotoxicology

Background

Econanotoxicology is the integration of toxicology and ecology applied to nanoparticles. It aims to quantify the effects of nanoparticle stressors upon natural populations, communities, or ecosystems. Ecotoxicology incorporates aspects of ecology, toxicology, physiology, molecular biology, analytical chemistry and many other disciplines. The ultimate goal of this approach is to be able to predict the effects of pollution so that the most efficient and effective action to prevent or remediate any detrimental effect can be identified. To do this the effect of different types of media (river water/run off/drinking water etc) on the size of nanoparticles is required to understand the potential effect on the ecosystem as a whole.