Title: reference environment
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - reference environment
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.14980
Status: current

Definition
Generalized description of the environment into which contaminants will be released and in which organisms will be exposed. Reference environments are used when there is no specific site at risk.

Related Term
- contaminants: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14549

Source
- PAC, 2009, 81, 829. 'Glossary of terms used in ecotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)' on page 936 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-08-07-09)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14980/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14980/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14980/xml

Citation: Citation: 'reference environment' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.14980
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-30T19:39:36+00:00