Glossary
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E
Ecotoxicology
Ecotoxicology is an interdisciplinary science that deals with the effects of substances on the living environment. Methods and tasks associated with biology, toxicology, environmental chemistry and ecology find application in the process.
Edaphon
The edaphon (Gr. edaphos - ground) covers the entirety of organisms living in the ground. A distinction is made between living plant entities (soil flora) and animal entities (soil fauna).
electron acceptor
An electron acceptor (or electron receiver) in the terminology of physics and chemistry is a particle (atom, molecule or ion) which is able to uptake electrons. This process is referred to as reduction. The particle itself acts as an oxidant.
Enclosures
This terminology is derived from the English and means separate tubular regions in bodies of water (lakes/seas) where scientists are able to test decontamination methods on a small scale prior to application in the entire body of water.
Environmental medicine
As a rule a distinction is made between (clinical) environmental medicine and hygiene (preventive medicine).
Taken as a whole, they are considered as environmental medicine if the tenets of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of afflictions associated with environmental influences are observed.
Whereas preventive environmental medicine (hygiene) focuses on environmental hygiene, epidemiological and preventive medicine (water, soil and air hygiene, hygiene of food, basic utilities and requirements, construction and settlement hygiene, including noise exposure, protection against ionizing radiation and consumer health protection), clinical environmental medicine, on the other hand, encompasses the medical care of individual persons with health complaints or conspicuous medical examination findings which can be traced back to environmental factors by the persons involved or the medical staff concerned.
Epidemiology
Epidemiology studies the causes and effects as well as the distribution of health-related conditions and events in populations.
Eukaryote
A eukaryote consists of at least one cell and possesses a cell nucleus with chromosomes and a nuclear membrane.
Eutrophy
Eutrophication mainly describes an increase in the input of plant nutrients (trophication) in bodies of water. The trophic status of a lake changes in the course of this increase (from oligotrophic through to mesotrophic, eutrophic and hypertrophic), accompanying the build-up of the ecosystem in the process.
Eutrophication becomes problematic when the biomass produced by its long-term resident communities sinks to the bottom of the lake after death and decomposes, accompanied by oxygen consumption. If the oxygen requirements exceed that available in the deep water of the lake, death of the fish population occurs and one refers to the lake's "tipping over".
Evaluation (Begutachtung, Bewertung)
Process for judging whether scientific research complies with certain quality standards. Research programmes at the UFZ are evaluated in a 5 year cycle with regard to societal relevance, scientific quality, interdisciplinary co-operation and transfer of knowledge to society.
ex situ
In ex situ processes the contaminated material is transported out of the soil or groundwater and handled externally.
Exposure
The term exposure describes the impact of an environmental agent on a receptor. This receptor-oriented approach allows distinguishing between environmental pollution and exposure. A miner, for example, is exposed to dust; a passive smoker is exposed to cigarette smoke. An exposure does not have to induce illness but can be a possible cause or trigger of illness or another effect in the receptor.
