Principles and applications of ecotoxicology: for undergraduate students in Biological Sciences Júlia Alves Luzzi, Walter Barrella, Fábio Hermes Pusceddu

Abstract

The marine biota has been suffering great environmental impacts due to its location and increased urbanization in its surroundings. With the increase of the population also increased the wastes that are released in the marine environment, through the rain gutters and the submarine emissaries, as it happens in the city of Santos / SP. With the ecotoxicological tests we can study the particularities of the contaminations of the place and can offer subsidies for possible recoveries. The objective of this work is to show the importance of the ecotoxicological tests and to discuss about pollution of the seas with undergraduate students. They will collect water samples from the beaches of Santos and conduct an ecotoxicological test with sea urchin in the ecotoxicology lab. After obtaining the data through the trials they will be discussed in the classroom and compared with previous studies. Students are expected to understand the importance of ecotoxicological studies and how pollution affects the seas. It is also expected that the waters of the Santos Sea are classified as "Toxic".