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| Columbia Environmental Research Center |
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The Columbia Environmental Research Center has many specific scientific capabilities that are used to carry out its mission, goals, and objectives. These capabilities constitute specific units of scientific specialization and disciplines that add tremendous value to the overall capabilities and expertise of the Center, also see CERC Science Capabilities Fact Sheet.
Selected, specific scientific capabilities are listed in alphabetical order:
The Columbia Environmental Research Center possesses expertise and experience in conducting research terrestrial birds, with specialization of grassland birds of south Texas. Of special value for field applications are the capability to identify birds in south Texas, the most diverse region ornithologically in the nation, by both sight and song. Bird research is conducted by staff in in thorn scrub habitats, during both the winter and breeding stages of the life cycle of migratory birds. Topics investigated during avian research include: avian distribution, habitat use and selection, foraging ecology, energetics and body condition, trace element body burdens, and stable isotope applications for migratory birds.
Animal behavior is an important component in understanding the life histories of aquatic organisms. The Columbia Environmental Research Center has developed unique capabilities in the development and application of behavioral methods in projects ranging from the habitat requirements of endangered species to measures of injury in Natural Resource Damage Assessment studies. Behavioral protocols developed at CERC cover a range of essential life functions including habitat selection, predator-prey interactions, competition and reproduction. Specialized apparatuses are developed for quantifying the behavioral responses including stamina tunnels for measuring swimming performance, avoidance apparatus for measuring the response to contaminants and other environmental variables such as substrate, turbidity, temperature. Computer-assisted technology is provided for measuring neuro-behavioral variables in swimming behavior that are applicable to field assessments of neurotoxic compounds. Predator-prey apparatus assess mortality from predation in contaminant-impaired prey as well as foraging success in predators. A range of video recording capabilities are also available for remote and long-term monitoring. Standard guides published in the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) have resulted from the behavioral protocols developed at CERC.
The Columbia Environmental Research Center has expertise in analysis of benthic macroinvertebrates in streams, large rivers, wetlands, and artificially-manipulated situations such as mesocosms and laboratory stream channels. The Center has on-site field capability in assessing impacts of contaminants, habitat degradation, and overall biological water quality using benthic invertebrates. These capabilities include the design and implementation of comprehensive sampling regimes, analysis and interpretation of results, and providing recommendations for management and restoration. Assessments include field sampling, laboratory processing, genus/species-level identification, and data analysis for benthic samples. Research studies include assessment of impacts related to oil spills, acid mine drainage, application of herbicides and fire retardant chemicals, heavy metal and sediment contamination, physical habitat degradation, and ecological changes related to nutrient loading and water quality degradation. Benthic invertebrate community parameters related to taxa richness, dominance, species similarity, biotic indices, and community function are used as stand-alone bioindicators or are included as an important component in comprehensive, Center-wide assessments.
Sublethal effects of chemical contaminant stressors on fish and wildlife must be characterized to conduct health assessments prior to the death of an organism. Chemicals elicit effects on fish and wildlife populations through a variety of mechanism which always begin at the biochemical level first. CERC conducts studies to understand the biochemical alterations which occur in the pathway leading to an adverse response in the organism. These early events allow development of biomarkers or biological indicators for the prediction of chemical exposure or effects in fish and wildlife. Many biological markers that we study are specific for the developing embryo. Aberrant apoptotic or programmed cell death in specific tissues of the developing embryo is one such marker caused, for example, by oxidative stress. Additionally we have developed methods to study chemical mixture toxicity on embryonic development by egg injection. Currently studies investigate the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals, PCBs, PCDDs, PCDFs, and their mixtures. The interaction of chemical contaminants and nutrient deficiency is also under study, in particular, as it relates to early mortality syndrome in salmonids from the Great Lakes and Baltic Sea.
The Environmental Chemistry Branch is a primary research program at the Columbia Environmental Research Center, critical to the integrated approach of chemical discovery and biological cause and effect that is the basis of environmental contaminant research in the U.S. Geological Survey. Environmental chemistry research encompasses all areas relating environmental pollution, including analytical methods development of techniques for defining bioavailability, bioconcentration potential, and determination of the toxicological significance of exposure to contaminant residues. The Environmental Chemistry Branch conducts aquatic, terrestrial, and atmospheric ecosystem research.
The Columbia Environmental Research Center has the expertise and experience to culture various species of fish, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates used in Center research activities. Methods are developed to culture species seldom or never cultured in the laboratory, including endangered species. Production facilities are maintained to produce fathead minnows and Japanese medaka, and invertebrate species including freshwater mussels, Hyalella azteca, Daphnia magna, Chironomus riparius, Chironomus tentans and Lumbriculus variegatus. Aquaria, tanks, raceways and ponds are used to accommodate test species produced on site or obtained from state or federal hatcheries.
The recent explosive growth of DNA sequence information and new techniques for precise measurement of gene expression have opened up new possibilities for defining mechanisms of toxicity, discovering biomarkers of exposure and effect, and integrating our understanding of contaminant effects across levels of biological organization from molecular to physiological to population responses. Rather than investigating the response of a single gene, DNA microarray technology allows measurement of thousands of genes at once. Thus, the responses of complete biochemical pathways can be assessed and new responses can be discovered. These techniques continue to gain power as more sequence data and gene annotations are developed for fish species. Areas of interest at CERC are mechanisms of action of endocrine disruptors, mechanisms of intersex development in adult fish, definition of gene expression profiles for contaminants with diverse modes of action, effects of thiamine deficiency on early life stage mortality in salmonines, and effects of methylmercury on reproduction.
CERC has capabilities and expertise in the geospatial arena through the use of GIS, GPS, and Remote Sensing technologies by CERC researchers. CERC uses remote sensing technologies for the analysis of aquatic environments including the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (3-D depth/velocity profiles), hydro-acoustic sediment mapping hardware and software, and a side-scan SONAR. Additional efforts are placed in the development of analytical tools for use with geospatial data, including the development of geostatistical measures for use in aquatic environments. CERC has expanded in-house expertise to include fluvial geomorphology and hydraulics/hydrology. Both fields rely heavily on CERC's geospatial capabilities.
The CERC has resident expertise in the area of geomorphology/surficial processes. Geomorphology is necessarily a multidisciplinary field, integrating aspects of hydrology, hydraulics, soil mechanics, sediment transport, geology, landscape evolution, watershed analysis, pedology, and surficial stratigraphy. These capabilities are applied to research studies of the links among physical disturbance (climate and land-use change), habitat quality and quantity, and biotic responses. In addition, geomorphology/surficial processes contributes complementary physical understanding to aquatic ecology studies and fate/transport studies of sediment-borne contaminants. Current emphasis includes, but is not limited to: 1) the effects of Missouri River regulation on changes in in-stream and flood plain habitats, 2) sensitivity of Ozark stream ecology to land-use and climatic disturbances, 3) geomorphic and habitat responses to urbanization, and 4) sediment routing in disturbed landscapes.
The Marine Ecotoxicology Research Station (MERS) is located in Corpus Christi, Texas. MERS has cooperative agreements with both the University of Texas, Marine Science Institute and the Texas A&M University, Center for Coastal Studies, and occupies laboratories and offices at both facilities. The primary focus of this research station has been the development and evaluation of novel methods for assessing the quality of marine and estuarine sediments. A number of new tests have been developed and used in numerous comprehensive sediment quality assessment surveys in partnership with NOAA, EPA, MMS, TNRCC, and others. MERS has the only marine toxicology laboratory within the USGS with the capability to conduct flow-through exposure studies. Studies include sediment quality assessment studies in Biscayne Bay, Florida, Puget Sound, Washington, Delaware, Maryland, and Sabine Lake, Galveston Bay, Lavaca Bay, and Corpus Christi Bay, Texas.
CERC capabilities in microscopy and histology rely on a powerful image analysis work station. This work station consists of an inverted Nikon Diaphot epi-fluorescent microscope equipped with motorized stage, video and 35mm cameras, xenon lamp, and monochromator. This is an integrated computerized system using OPTIMAS imaging software which allows for excellent qualitative and quantitative microscopy. In addition to the compound microscope, CERC possess the Nikon research stereoscopic zoom microscope equipped with a sophisticated hotomicrography system. This microscope is used for developmental research and micromanipulation procedures. Support equipment necessary to process and prepare specimens for microscopy is also available. Equipment consists of an automated tissue processing unit, a paraffin embedding station, and various microtomes. In addition to personnel with training in general and fluorescence microscopy, CERC has access to the local expertise and equipment (ultramicrotomes, confocal and electron microscopes) at the Molecular Core Facility of the University of Missouri.
The Columbia Environmental Research Center has developed the scientific capabilities for conducting Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program (NRDAR). These capabilities include field methods for assessing the pathways of contamination through collection of surface and ground water, sediments, and invertebrate and vertebrate tissue samples, for documenting the impact of the exposure on individuals and populations, through measures of population status, and measures of toxicity in in-situ and laboratory tests. In addition CERC has implemented the use of biochemical and physiological measures of contaminant effect and exposure as applicable to weight of evidence data for environmental injury, and has development laboratory and field assessment techniques for assessing habitat loss. The NRDAR investigations have required the development of extensive quality control protocols and standard operating procedures. CERC is currently leading a technical review of the regulations concerning injury endpoints.
Physiological studies incorporate basic and applied research at the cellular, organ and organismal levels of organization. The emphasis is on sublethal effects of chemicals and other stressors that lead to behavioral, developmental, and population level effects that ultimately can influence ecosystem health. One area of interest involves examining the effects of various chemicals and mixtures of chemicals on neurotransmitter receptor pathways in the central and peripheral nervous systems in laboratory studies and in field collected samples. The chemicals of interest range from chemicals of known mechanism of action to complex mixtures of environmental chemicals.
Plant and vegetation studies are important for understanding terrestrial populations, habitats, and ecosystems. The Columbia Environmental Research Center has laboratory, greenhouse, and field expertise in plant population biology, plant genetics, botany, vegetation community classification and mapping, floristic quality assessment, plant-climate interactions, fire ecology, and phytotoxcicity of heavy metals. Our plant ecologists collaborate with university, state and federal scientists on projects addressing the character, quality, and dynamics of many types of terrestrial habitat from prairies to floodplain forests.
Environmental chemicals can interfere with endocrine (hormone) function. Hormones regulate nearly all physiological functions, such as growth, development, and reproduction. The degree to which this interference is occurring both in wildlife and human populations is uncertain, and is complicated by the number of classes of chemicals that influence endocrine function. Most evidence of environmentally-induced hormone disruption in both wildlife and humans has been obtained from highly exposed populations. Our approach, however, is to examine subtle impacts on hormonal systems occurring within a gradients of contamination that could result in population effects. We are approaching this complex problem through both basic and applied research. A major area of emphasis involves studying the normal processes of sexual differentiation and development of fishes in conjunction with the disruptive effects induced by exposure to chemical contaminants. Focus areas in these studies include: primary germ cells, nuage material, gonadogenesis, gametogenesis, secondary sexual characteristics, and sexual behaviors. A second area of emphasis focuses on assessing estrogenicity of single or complex mixtures of chemicals in fish, by measuring an estrogen dependent plasma phosphoprotein, vitellogenin, in immature female or male fish where it would not normally be found. These types of studies have also been applied to field collected plasma samples. The applied research is focused on the characterization of exposure and effects in populations of fish and wildlife from various locations. The studies are conducted with field biologists and often include the assessment of biological indicators of effects that were developed in the laboratory. The goals of these studies are to develop linkages among sublethal effects at the cell or tissue level and adverse population level effects. A final approach is to expose developing embryos to complex mixtures of chemicals taken from specific sites. These studies are conducted to gain information about the interaction of chemicals from a given site and the potential for synergism or antagonism to occur.
The recovery of functional terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in habitats previously injured by chemical contamination and oil spills is an ultimate goal of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process. Resource managers work to rebuild the structural components of a site, both abiotic and biotic, in a manner that encourages the development of habitat conducive to recolonized populations and communities of plants and animals. CERC works with practitioners to develop and monitor methods that lead to functional ecosystems, with the goal of obtaining the resiliency in restored lands consistent with that of local reference sites. Scientific efforts focus on understanding the ecological value of restored lands assuring that restoration goals are met and ecosystem services restored over time.
CERC provides statistical support to its researchers; including spatial statistics; and consultation with other BRD researchers. Statistical support includes reviewing, evaluating and recommending statistical designs and procedures to assure research studies will produce data for statistical analysis and interpretation; adapting innovative statistical methods to research studies; statistically analyzing data; validating and documenting statistical methods; assisting and advising researchers on data interpretation; and writing or reviewing the statistical methods sections in manuscripts. Statisticians at CERC have advanced knowledge of the statistical theory and methods used in environmental toxicology and chemistry, ecology, fisheries biology and wildlife biology. They evaluate new developments in statistical theory and methodology and determine their application and limitations to CERC's research program.
The Columbia Environmental Research Center has extensive experience and state of the art equipment for radio and ultrasonic telemetry for use in all aquatic and terrestrial fish and wildlife applications. Radio frequency and ultrasonic systems are equipped for data logging and remote communication capabilities to be used as unattended, automated monitoring sites to detect multiple transmitter signals and record animal passage. Telemetry data is augments by Global Positioning Systems to accurately locate animals and geospatially reference movement. Extensive mapping capabilities and GIS technology at CERC increase data interpretation to maximize the use of telemetry data.
The Columbia Environmental Research Center has unique solar simulation facilities for investigating the biological effects of ultraviolet radiation and the potential synergistic interactions between aquatic contaminants and sunlight. The solar simulators generate UVB, UVA, and visible radiation in sufficient intensities and ratios to approximate natural sunlight. This blend of wavelengths is necessary not only for simulating solar radiation but also to provide sufficient radiation to induce natural photorepair mechanisms for an accurate estimate of UV effects. The operation of the system through programmable controllers provides daily exposures of natural durations of visible and ultraviolet radiation. The system encloses a temperature controlled water bath where the test organisms are held. Exposures are quantified with a scanning spectroradiometer that measures the surface and underwater intensities of UV and visible light at one nm intervals from 260 to 800 nm. The spectroradiometer can also be used in the field to determine natural radiation intensities at specific sites. To date CERC has exposed fish, amphibians, and aquatic invertebrates in the solar simulators to assess the potential impact of stratospheric ozone depletion, the consequences of UV exposure resulting from increases in water column clarity, and the photoenhanced toxicity of pesticides and petroleum products.
The Columbia Environmental Research Center has unique laboratory, experimental ecosystem, and field capabilities for the assessment of the effects of water quality on natural resources; the biological significance of degraded water quality. Water quality consists of a myriad of factors including dissolved oxygen, temperature, nutrients, organic carbon, pH, alkalinity, dissolved solids, and minerals. These components can be limiting factors in aquatic ecosystems, as well as important determinants of the fate and effects of contaminants in the environment. The Center also has unique capabilities for continuous, in-situ monitoring of water quality in natural environments. For example, multi-probe water quality monitors have been used to examine the diurnal and seasonal changes in dissolved oxygen, salinity, pH, conductivity, and temperature in estuarine environments important in the reproductive ecology of species such as striped bass. Such studies can provide unique insights into the influence of hydrologic alteration in the presence of industrial and agricultural chemicals.
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