Marine pollution and risk assessment

About this programme

The course gives a broad understanding of the risks that marine pollution poses to our seas and our planet. We study the spreading of contaminants and their effects from the sub-cellular level to ecosystems, such as metals and organic pollutants, oil spills, microplastic and radioactivity. The course gives a broad understanding of the threats caused by marine pollution, with a focus on pollutants such as metals and organic contaminants, oil spills, littering with plastic and microplastics, and emissions of radioactive isotopes. We start by presenting the major classes of environmental contaminants. We discuss how these contaminants are emitted and spread in the environment through air and water. Then we study examples of their mode of toxicity at the sub-cellular and individual level in terrestrial and aquatic organisms, as well as in humans. We also examine ecotoxicological effects at the population, ecosystem, and planetary level — such as interactions between contaminants, eutrophication, and climate change. The course includes both theoretical and practical elements in ecotoxicology, including methods used to assess toxicity and risk (environmental risk assessment, ERA), and techniques for evaluating the environmental status of marine systems (marine environmental monitoring methods). The course also introduces tools for improved environmental management, such as chemical policy, environmental risk assessment, and strategies for remediating polluted sites. The course starts with lectures and a series of literature seminars. Then we visit the Marine Askö Laboratory t