Publications
Dive into our publications and explore the science from the Environmental Health Program (Toxic Substances Hydrology and Contaminant Biology).
Filter Total Items: 4094
Occurrence of triclocarban and triclosan in an agro-ecosystem following application of biosolids
Triclocarban (TCC) and triclosan (TCS), two of the most commonly used antimicrobial compounds, can be introduced into ecosystems by applying wastewater treatment plant biosolids to agricultural fields. Concentrations of TCC and TCS were measured in different trophic levels within a terrestrial food web encompassing land-applied biosolids, soil, earthworms (Lumbricus), deer mice (Peromyscus manicul
Authors
Jessica J. Sherburne, Amanda M. Anaya, Kimberly J. Fernie, Jennifer S. Forbey, Edward T. Furlong, Dana W. Kolpin, Alfred M. Dufty, Chad A. Kinney
Application of frequency- and time-domain electromagnetic surveys to characterize hydrostratigraphy and landfill construction at the Amargosa Desert Research Site, Beatty, Nevada
In 2014 and 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), conducted frequency-domain electromagnetic (FDEM) surveys at the USGS Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS), approximately 17 kilometers (km) south of Beatty, Nevada. The FDEM surveys were conducted within and adjacent to a closed low-level radioactive waste disposal site located at the ADRS. FDEM surveys were conducted on a grid of north-south a
Authors
Eric A. White, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, Carole D. Johnson, John W. Lane
Statistical comparison of methods for estimating sediment thickness from Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) seismic methods: An example from Tylerville, Connecticut, USA
Determining sediment thickness and delineating bedrock topography are important for assessing groundwater availability and characterizing contamination sites. In recent years, the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) seismic method has emerged as a non-invasive, cost-effective approach for estimating the thickness of unconsolidated sediments above bedrock. Using a three-component seismomet
Authors
Carole D. Johnson, John W. Lane
Enabling science support for better decision-making when responding to chemical spills
Chemical spills and accidents contaminate the environment and disrupt societies and economies around the globe. In the United States there were approximately 172,000 chemical spills that affected US waterbodies from 2004 to 2014. More than 8000 of these spills involved non–petroleum-related chemicals. Traditional emergency responses or incident command structures (ICSs) that respond to chemical sp
Authors
Jennifer L. Weidhass, Andrea M. Dietrich, Nathan J. DeYonker, R. Ryan Dupont, William T. Foreman, Daniel Gallagher, Jennifer E. G. Gallagher, Andrew J. Whelton, William Alexander
Environmental implications of the use of sulfidic back-bay sediments for dune reconstruction — Lessons learned post Hurricane Sandy
Some barrier-island dunes damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy's storm surges in October 2012 have been reconstructed using sediments dredged from back bays. These sand-, clay-, and iron sulfide-rich sediments were used to make berm-like cores for the reconstructed dunes, which were then covered by beach sand. In November 2013, we sampled and analyzed partially weathered materials collected fro
Authors
Geoffrey S. Plumlee, William Benzel, Todd M. Hoefen, Philip L. Hageman, Suzette A. Morman, Timothy J. Reilly, Monique Adams, Cyrus J. Berry, Jeffrey Fischer, Irene Fisher
Aqueous exposure to the progestin, levonorgestrel, alters anal fin development and reproductive behavior in the eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki)
Endogenous progestogens are important regulators of vertebrate reproduction. Synthetic progestins are components of human contraceptive and hormone replacement pharmaceuticals. Both progestogens and progestins enter the environment through a number of sources, and have been shown to cause profound effects on reproductive health in various aquatic vertebrates. Progestins are designed to bind human
Authors
Tyler E. Frankel, Michael T. Meyer, Edward F. Orlando
Transcriptome discovery in non-model wild fish species for the development of quantitative transcript abundance assays
Environmental studies increasingly identify the presence of both contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and legacy contaminants in aquatic environments; however, the biological effects of these compounds on resident fishes remain largely unknown. High throughput methodologies were employed to establish partial transcriptomes for three wild-caught, non-model fish species; smallmouth bass (Micropte
Authors
Cassidy M. Hahn, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Robert S. Cornman, Patricia M. Mazik, Vicki S. Blazer
Deposition, accumulation, and alteration of Cl−, NO3−, ClO4− and ClO3− salts in a hyper-arid polar environment: Mass balance and isotopic constraints
The salt fraction in permafrost soils/sediments of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica can be used as a proxy for cold desert geochemical processes and paleoclimate reconstruction. Previous analyses of the salt fraction in MDV permafrost soils have largely been conducted in coastal regions where permafrost soils are variably affected by aqueous processes and mixed inputs from marine and st
Authors
Andrew Jackson, Alfonso F. Davila, John Karl Böhlke, Neil C. Sturchio, Ritesh Sevanthi, Nubia Estrada, Maeghan Brundrett, Denis Lacelle, Christopher P. McKay, Armen Poghosyan, Wayne Pollard, Kris Zacny
Bounded fractional diffusion in geological media: Definition and Lagrangian approximation
Spatiotemporal Fractional-Derivative Models (FDMs) have been increasingly used to simulate non-Fickian diffusion, but methods have not been available to define boundary conditions for FDMs in bounded domains. This study defines boundary conditions and then develops a Lagrangian solver to approximate bounded, one-dimensional fractional diffusion. Both the zero-value and non-zero-value Dirichlet, Ne
Authors
Yong Zhang, Christopher T. Green, Eric M. LaBolle, Roseanna M. Neupauer, Hong-Guang Sun
Low-cost floating emergence net and bottle trap: Comparison of two designs
Sampling emergent aquatic insects is of interest to many freshwater ecologists. Many quantitative emergence traps require the use of aspiration for collection. However, aspiration is infeasible in studies with large amounts of replication that is often required in large biomonitoring projects. We designed an economic, collapsible pyramid-shaped floating emergence trap with an external collection b
Authors
Pete Cadmus, Justin Pomeranz, Johanna M. Kraus
Environmental drivers of differences in microbial community structure in crude oil reservoirs across a methanogenic gradient
Stimulating in situ microbial communities in oil reservoirs to produce natural gas is a potentially viable strategy for recovering additional fossil fuel resources following traditional recovery operations. Little is known about what geochemical parameters drive microbial population dynamics in biodegraded, methanogenic oil reservoirs. We investigated if microbial community structure was significa
Authors
Jenna L. Shelton, Denise M. Akob, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Noah Fierer, John R. Spear, Peter D. Warwick, John E. McCray
A downstream voyage with mercury
Retrospective essay for the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.As I look back on my paper, “Effects of Low Dietary Levels of Methyl Mercury on Mallard Reproduction,” published in 1974 in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, a thought sticks in my mind. I realize just how much my mercury research was not unlike a leaf in a stream, carried this way and that
Authors
Gary Heinz