Research objectives:
i) To determine whether metals, including dissolved, colloidal and particulate metals, are bioavailable and toxic to organisms;
ii) To characterize and parameterize the physiological and geochemical processes governing metal bioaccumulation, toxicity and ultimately trophic transfer in aquatic ecosystems.
iii) To model metal bioaccumulation and toxicity using kinetic models
iv) To develop approaches that use isotopically modified metals, metal nanoparticles and metal bound to distinct mineral phases (such as Cu on ferric oxides) to quantify their bioavailability and toxicity to organisms, in particular invertebrates;
v) To use enriched metal isotopes to gain mechanistic understanding of the key processes controlling metal bioavailability, for example, to quantify the relative importance of ion uptake and (nano)particle uptake
