On Friday, December 1, at 11am, Dr. Andrew Heyes, UMCES-Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, will present "Something old and something new: Tracing the fate of contaminants in a changing world," as part of the Appalachian Laboratory's Visiting Scholar Seminar Series. The seminar will take place in room 109 of the Appalachian Laboratory.
Abstract:
"Something Old" - Humans have a long history of releasing chemical contaminants into the environment. Some, such as mercury, are also naturally occurring but have been used in human activities for centuries. Combustion of fossil fuel increased mercury to levels of concern and legislation was enacted in the US to curb the release. What impact did this legislation have? Is anybody looking? New chemicals are being produced with little understanding of their environmental fate. Structural properties of these compounds vary greatly, with some being extremely stable while others rapidly degrade. “Something New” - One such group of chemicals are the UV filters. While commonly associated with sunscreens, these chemicals are impregnated into many products to protect them from UV degradation, thus there are multiple sources to the environment. While providing the same function, these compounds are structurally diverse and not surprisingly behave differently in the environment. With little published information about their chemical properties, UV filters have proved to be challenging to study. I will discuss our findings regarding the fate of some UV filters in the marine environment and where we go from here.
To learn more about Dr. Heyes and his research visit his directory page.
All sessions are open to the public, but please note that these are scientific talks intended for scientific audiences. For more information on our public events intended for general audiences please visit our Watershed Moments Community Learning Series website.
