Ecological risk assessment of oil sands related contaminants to aquatic biodiversity

Alberta Environment’s comprehensive contaminant load study, located in Alberta’s oil sands mining area is designed to document the flow of contaminants (from anthropogenic and natural sources) into the environment and their effects on biodiversity and human health. The project proposed for this internship will cover the impacts and risks to the aquatic ecosystem and is a crucial component of the overall study. This component will take inputs from the contaminant loadings of air, water, soil and sediment (either through field data or modeled predictions) and model the flow of contaminants through the aquatic food web. The fate and impact of the contaminants on invertebrates, fish and other guilds will be modeled as a function of the loading into the environment. Using this framework, current and future state analyses can be completed to understand the potential impact of oil sands development in the future.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Hao Wang

Student:

Nicholas Piazza

Partner:

Alberta Environment

Discipline:

Statistics / Actuarial sciences

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

University of Alberta