A
Aerobic – Life or processes that require, or are not destroyed by, the presence of oxygen.
Anaerobic – A life or process that occurs in, or is not destroyed by, the absence of oxygen.
Anthropogenic – Involving the impact of people on nature; induced, caused, or altered by the
presence
and activities of people, as in water and air pollution.
Aquatic – (1) Consisting of, relating to, or being in water; living or growing in, on, or
near the water.
(2) Taking place in or on the water.
(3) An organism that lives in, on, or near the water.
B
Benthic – (1) The bottom of lakes or oceans.
(2) Referring to organisms that live on the bottom of water bodies.
Benthic organisms – Those organisms living at or near the bottom of a body of water.
They include a number
of types of organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, insect larvae and
nymphs, snails, clams, and crayfish. They are
useful as indicators of water quality.
Bioaccumulation – The increase in concentration of a chemical in organisms that reside in
environments
contaminated with low concentrations of various organic compounds. Also used
to describe the progressive
increase in the amount of a chemical in an organism resulting
from rates of absorption of a substance in
excess of its metabolism and excretion.
Bioavailability – Degree of ability to be absorbed and ready to interact in
organism metabolism.
Bioconcentration – (1) The process by which an individual organism directly concentrates a
substance
from the surrounding air, water, or soil.
(2) The increase in concentration of a chemical in an organism
resulting from absorption levels exceeding the rate of metabolism and excretion.
Biologic monitoring (or biomonitoring) – Measuring hazardous substances in biologic materials
(such as
blood, hair, urine, or breath) to determine whether exposure has occurred. A blood test for
lead is an
example of biologic monitoring.
Biomagnification – Refers to the process whereby certain substances such as pesticides or heavy
metals
move up the food chain, work their way into rivers or lakes, and are eaten by aquatic
organisms such as fish,
which in turn are eaten by large birds, animals or humans. The substances
become concentrated in tissues or
internal organs as they move up the chain.
Biota – The animals, plants, and microbes that live in a particular location orregion.
Body Burden – The amount of a chemical stored in the body at a given time, especially a potential
toxin in the
body as the result of exposure.
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C
Concentration – The amount of a substance present in a certain amount of soil, water, air, food,
blood, hair,
urine, breath, or any other media. In water, concentrations are often reported in units of
mass (such as
milligrams or micrograms) per unit volume (such as liters) of water, or in units such
as parts per million.
In solid samples (such as soils or fish tissues), concentrations are often reported
in units of mass (such as
milligrams) per unit of mass of sample (such as kilograms), or in units such
as parts per million.
Contaminant – A substance that is either present in an environment where it does not belong or is
present at
levels that might cause harmful (adverse) health effects.
Contamination (Water) – Impairment of the quality of water sources by sewage, industrial waste,
or other
matters to a degree which creates a hazard to public health. Also, the degradation of the
natural quality of
water as a result of human activities. There is no implication of any specific limits,
since the degree of
permissible contamination depends upon the intended end use, or uses, of the
water.
