Metals Exposure and Effects

The Minerals Integrated Science Team focuses on contaminant exposures in the environment that might originate from mineral resource activities including, transportation, storage, extraction and waste management. Perceived health risks to humans and other organisms will be distinguished from actual risks, if any. If actual risks are identified the science produced by this team can inform how to...

About the Research The Environmental Chemistry Laboratory Core Technology Team (CTT) as part of the Environmental Health Program develops and applies innovative methods of sampling and analysis to answer critical questions about the occurrence, distribution, fate and transport, and biological exposure of chemical in all environmental matrices (water, air, tissues, sediments, and others).

In a study designed to help resource managers when considering mercury exposure risk, scientists determined that sulfur cycling—a process closely related to mercury methylation rates—and ecological conditions that influence exposure are important factors affecting fish mercury concentrations in estuarine wetlands.

Seventeen naturally occurring trace elements, including those associated with adverse health impacts when birds are exposed to toxic levels (iron, lead, mercury, selenium, zinc, cadmium, and arsenic) were measured in small birds without harm. The nonlethal method was developed for hummingbirds, with Anna's hummingbirds ( Calypte anna ) as a test species and can be more broadly applied to other...

A creative combination of radiography and techniques borrowed from meat processing and gold prospecting led to a better method for determining the lead content in ground squirrels shot by hunters to evaluate potential exposure risk to avian scavengers such as golden eagles ( Aquila chrysaetos ).

A riparian zone rich in terrestrial insects can provide an alternate food source for fish in metal-impacted watersheds.

The unique combination of natural processes and human activities present in western North America can strongly affect the exposure of fish and birds to methylmercury, the most toxic form of mercury (Hg).

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and National Park Service (NPS) scientists collaborated in the first study to measure mercury in fish from remote places in 21 National Parks spanning 10 Western States, including Alaska. Mercury levels in fish generally were low, but were elevated in some local areas, including two parks in Utah and Alaska where samples taken from sport fish exceeded the U.S...

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists measured lead in blood from tundra swans that nest in Alaska and then followed the migration of these birds using satellite telemetry. Levels of lead in blood were higher in adults than young swans,suggesting exposure to lead occurs on wintering areas and/or during migration, rather than on the summer breeding grounds in Alaska. The lowest blood levels were...

Studies conducted in subalpine streams in Colorado by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists found that aqueous metals resulting from acid mine drainage and natural weathering can almost eliminate adult insect emergence from streams, even at metal levels too low to reduce aquatic larval densities. This pattern suggests that adult insects might be a more sensitive indicator of metals than...

Rising global temperatures and changing human actions will significantly affect the environmental distribution of mercury worldwide, according to a recent article in Science by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Harvard University scientists. Higher temperatures and weaker air circulation patterns from climate change will likely have significant impacts on the atmospheric lifetime and patterns of...