Unit 16
0.4MB
0.6MB
Biotechnology and the environment
Environmental biotechnology can be considered to cover the
application of biotechnological processes for the protection
and restoration of the quality of the environment. This is an
enormous subject area that is much too wide to be considered
fully in this unit. Therefore the chosen approach is to focus
on three aspects only, detection, prevention and remediation;
different but relevant topics have been chosen to illustrate
each aspect.
Some idea of the breadth of environmental biotechnology is
conveyed by addressing a range of selected topics including effects
of air pollution on human health, gene technology in plants,
oil pollution, monitoring, risk assessment, bioremediation and
economics.
Different teaching approaches have been chosen as appropriate
to the topic. Use is made of the theory behind the science and
technology, practical laboratory work, field work, case studies
and student discussions of the issues involved. The ways in which
the various aspects and topics relate to the environment are
underpinned by including a consideration of the C, N and S cycles
with the added intention of providing a different approach to
the difficult problem of teaching the concept of cycles.
