Quantifying persistent chemical accumulation in fish as a function of bioenergetic demands and growth rates

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This research is based on the adage that 'dose makes the poison'. Dose is not accurately quantified by measuring average concentrations of a chemical in the environment, but by predicting the probability of a 'hot' exposure. For chemical exposures associated with food such as fish, we need to know what factors and processes that make some fish more contaminated than others. This variability of contaminant concentrations within and among fish species is also of ecological importance for this variability can provide insight into food web function and structure. Therefore this research is critical to both ecotoxicology and aquatic ecology. We aim to integrate toxicokinetic modeling with food web models in order to produce non-steady state food web models that explain and predict the temporal variability of contaminant concentrations in aquatic food webs.