BIOL 1005 Lecture Notes - Lecture 40: Biomagnification, Methyl Group, Hatmaking
Document Summary
(heading of seven criteria pollutants from nov 11th notes continued) Hg contamination- atmospheric injection & then downwind deposition (cid:1543) in land and h20. Deposited hg is going to be chemically altered by bacteria (cid:1543) add a methyl group to hg and form methylmercury (cid:1543) huge problem. Major source of hg is coal-fired power plants. Methylmercury is a protein soluble metal (cid:1543) highest concentration in muscle protein (cid:1543) we eat this. Bioaccumulation- build up of hg is sediment of rivers, lakes, streams, or terrestrial soil (cid:1543) no breakdown. Biomagnification- concentration of a material as it passes up a food chain. Ppm=parts per million- number of parts of mercury found in 1 million parts of a gas, liquid, or a solid. Example) aquatic (environment downwind of a power plant) concentration. What does hg do? (cid:1543) acts as teratogen and neurotoxic. Teratogen- anything that impacts protein development in a developing embryo (cid:1543) fish eggs, amphibian eggs, pregnant human.
