Innovation Anthology #69: Professor, Faculty of Law
When pollutants such as metals and agricultural chemicals leach into waterways, they can have a major impact on the health of fish.
They do this by changing the levels of hormones secreted by the fish’s endocrine system.
Dr. Alice Hontela holds a Canada Research Chair in Ecotoxicology at the University of Lethbridge. She is particularly interested in cortical steroid hormones. These enable fish to respond to stressors such as confinement or escaping from predators.
DR. ALICE HONTELA: And I have found that some pollutants, specifically metals and some pesticides, actually interfere with the normal synthesis of these cortical steroid hormones. And so we get fish that are sort of dulled in their reaction to stressors. And that has effects on the way they behave and the way they interact.
Dr. Hontela is concerned with the bioaccumulation of pollutants as they move up the food chain.
DR. ALICE HONTELA: If people eat the fish, they may also have problems. And of course, there’s the whole question of drinking water. So when we see fish that may be having problems with their physiology, their hormonal status, we must ask ourselves, well, what happens to us when we drink that water everyday?
Thanks today to The University of Lethbridge.
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY, I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
Guest
Timothy Caulfield, LLB,
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, tcaulfld@law.ualberta.ca
Sponsor
University of Lethbridge
In 2007 The University of Lethbridge celebrated its 40th anniversary. The U of L campus is home to the world renowned Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience. The University is also a centre of expertise on water and remote sensing.
For more interviews with University of Lethbridge researchers, check out the website for Innovation Alberta. (2001-2008)
Program Date: 2007-09-25