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Environmental Chemistry Branch Research

Research and Resources

2006 Activities

• identification of chemical attractants for trapping West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes

• calibration of passive air samplers using USGS patented system for determination of air pollutants indoors and on airplanes

• identification of source and remediation of PCB contaminated raceways at national fish hatchery

• complex mixture analysis of difficult samples: determination of unknowns, PCBs, dioxins in Katrina sediments; GC/high resolution mass spectrometry

• development of an HPLC-ICP-MS method for pinpointing seleno-proteins (selenium speciation) in fish

• application of passive sampling POCIS and SPMDs for monitoring herbicides in remote forests

• assessment of toxic elements in fish living under decommissioned oil rigs off the California coast

• collecting trace level of organic chemicals and assessing toxicity by combined passive sampling/chemical analysis/toxicity assays, including the Yeast Estrogen Screening™ and Microtox™ assays.

• perfluoro compounds (PFOA and PFOS) sampling with SPMDs followed by LC/MS analysis- method development

• use of passive sampling for TMDLs of dioxins and PCBs in lakes and rivers

• development of cleanup and fractionation methods for finding emerging contaminants, current use pesticides in very difficult matrices

• forensic analysis of complex mixtures of organic chemicals for tracking of sources

• tracking of sources of personal care products and pharmaceuticals from multiple wastewater effluents using passive sampling and LC/MS

• development of automated methods for fractionation of organic contaminants

Research Areas

• Custom Analytical Chemistry for Methods and Field Applications

• Contaminant - Endocrine Interactions

• Chemical Transport and Fate

  • In vitro and in vivo assays directed fractionation of complex mixtures
  • Biological effects of low-level exposure
  • Site assessments

   

• Inorganic Contaminant Assessment

  • Isotopic fingerprinting of sources and pathways
  • Bioavailability of metals in sediment
  • Contaminant impacts on agricultural-return ground waters
  • Mercury and methylmercury impacts (A National Pilot Study of Mercury Contamination of Aquatic Ecosystems along Multiple Gradients: Bioaccumulation in Fishes November 2000)

   

• Establishing Contaminant-Effect Linkage

  • Identification of potential contaminants
  • Large-scale concentration of contaminants from biota and SPMD extracts for in vitro and in vivo assays

   

• Acid Mine Drainage Impact on Streams

  • Bioavailability of metals

   

• Toxicity Identification and Evaluation

  • EDC from pulp and paper mill effluents
  • AH-h activity in estuarine sediments

   

• Chemical Modeling

  • Using GIS/hydrology to predict potential atrazine runoff in Missouri streams
  • Statistical elucidation of contaminant biomagnification potential and pathways

   

• Assessing Reproductive Effects in Wildlife

  • Bald eagle declines along the Columbia River, Hood Canal, and in the Great Lakes
  • Biomagnification in peregrine falcons, tree swallows, and piscivorous birds
  • Otter and mink along the Columbia River and Great Lakes

   

• Organic Contaminant Assessment

  • Passive sampling in large river basins
  • Atmospheric sampling along the Rio Grande
  • Explosives at Los Alamos Laboratory
  • New York Harbor and Newark estuarine sediments
  • Food web dynamics

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