Publications
Dive into our publications and explore the science from the Environmental Health Program (Toxic Substances Hydrology and Contaminant Biology).
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Lapland longspur mortality at an oil well drilling rig site, Laramie County, Wyoming
Two hundred fifty-one Lapland longspur (Calcarius lapponicus) carcasses were recovered around an oil well drilling rig in Laramie County, Wyoming, USA, on December 13–14, 2010, apparent victims of a winter storm and “light entrapment” from the lights on the drilling rig during foggy conditions. We found Lapland longspur carcasses distributed around the drilling rig from 33 m to 171 m. Investigator
Authors
Pedro Ramirez, Kimberly K. Dickerson, Jim Lindstrom, Carol U. Meteyer, Scott Darrah
Pharmaceuticals and other contaminants of emerging concern in landfill leachate of the United States
Landfills are commonly the final respository for a heterogeneous mixture of waste from residential, commercial, and industrial sources. The use of landfills as a means of waste disposal will likely increase as the global population increases and nations develop. Thus, landfills receiving such waste have the potential to produce leachate containing numerous organic chemicals including contaminants
Authors
Dana W. Kolpin, Jason R. Masoner, Edward T. Furlong, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, James L. Gray, Eric A. Schwab
Toxicity of sediments from lead-zinc mining areas to juvenile freshwater mussels (Lampsilis siliquoidea) compared to standard test organisms
Sediment toxicity tests compared chronic effects on survival, growth, and biomass of juvenile freshwater mussels (28-d exposures with Lampsilis siliquoidea) to the responses of standard test organisms—amphipods (28-d exposures with Hyalella azteca) and midges (10-d exposures with Chironomus dilutus)—in sediments from 2 lead–zinc mining areas: the Tri-State Mining District and Southeast Missouri Mi
Authors
John M. Besser, Christopher G. Ingersoll, William G. Brumbaugh, Nile E. Kemble, Thomas W. May, Ning Wang, Donald D. MacDonald, Andrew D. Roberts
Mercury concentrations and distribution in soil, water, mine waste leachates, and air in and around mercury mines in the Big Bend region, Texas, USA
Samples of soil, water, mine waste leachates, soil gas, and air were collected from areas mined for mercury (Hg) and baseline sites in the Big Bend area, Texas, to evaluate potential Hg contamination in the region. Soil samples collected within 300 m of an inactive Hg mine contained elevated Hg concentrations (3.8–11 µg/g), which were considerably higher than Hg in soil collected from baseline sit
Authors
John E. Gray, Peter M. Theodorakos, David L. Fey, David P. Krabbenhoft
Influence of hardness on the bioavailability of silver to a freshwater snail after waterborne exposure to silver nitrate and silver nanoparticles
The release of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) into the aquatic environment is likely, but the influence of water chemistry on their impacts and fate remains unclear. Here, we characterize the bioavailability of Ag from AgNO3 and from AgNPs capped with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP AgNP) and thiolated polyethylene glycol (PEG AgNP) in the freshwater snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, after short waterborne exposures.
Authors
Tasha L. Stoiber, Marie Noële Croteau, Isabella Romer, Mila Tejamaya, Jamie R. Lead, Samuel N. Luoma
Flow cytometric method for measuring chromatin fragmentation in fixed sperm from yellow perch (Perca flavescens)
Declining harvests of yellow perch, Perca flavescens, in urbanized watersheds of Chesapeake Bay have prompted investigations of their reproductive fitness. The purpose of this study was to establish a flow cytometric technique for DNA analysis of fixed samples sent from the field to provide reliable gamete quality measurements. Similar to the sperm chromatin structure assay, measures were made on
Authors
Jill A. Jenkins, Rassa O. Draugelis-Dale, Alfred E. Pinkney, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Vicki Blazer
Development of a new semi-analytical model for cross-borehole flow experiments in fractured media
Analysis of borehole flow logs is a valuable technique for identifying the presence of fractures in the subsurface and estimating properties such as fracture connectivity, transmissivity and storativity. However, such estimation requires the development of analytical and/or numerical modeling tools that are well adapted to the complexity of the problem. In this paper, we present a new semi-analyti
Authors
Delphine Roubinet, James Irving, Frederick D. Day-Lewis
Anomalous solute transport in saturated porous media: Relating transport model parameters to electrical and nuclear magnetic resonance properties
The advection-dispersion equation (ADE) fails to describe commonly observed non-Fickian solute transport in saturated porous media, necessitating the use of other models such as the dual-domain mass-transfer (DDMT) model. DDMT model parameters are commonly calibrated via curve fitting, providing little insight into the relation between effective parameters and physical properties of the medium. Th
Authors
Ryan D Swanson, Andrew Binley, Kristina Keating, Samantha France, Gordon Osterman, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, Kamini Singha
Arsenic cycling in hydrocarbon plumes: secondary effects of natural attenuation
Monitored natural attenuation is widely applied as a remediation strategy at hydrocarbon spill sites. Natural attenuation relies on biodegradation of hydrocarbons coupled with reduction of electron acceptors, including solid phase ferric iron (Fe(III)). Because arsenic (As) adsorbs to Fe-hydroxides, a potential secondary effect of natural attenuation of hydrocarbons coupled with Fe(III) reduction
Authors
Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Madeline E. Schreiber, Melinda L. Erickson, Brady A. Ziegler
Concentrations of hormones, pharmaceuticals and other micropollutants in groundwater affected by septic systems in New England and New York
Septic-system discharges can be an important source of micropollutants (including pharmaceuticals and endocrine active compounds) to adjacent groundwater and surface water systems. Groundwater samples were collected from well networks tapping glacial till in New England (NE) and sandy surficial aquifer New York (NY) during one sampling round in 2011. The NE network assesses the effect of a single
Authors
Patrick J. Phillips, Christopher Schubert, Denise M. Argue, Irene J. Fisher, Edward T. Furlong, William T. Foreman, James L. Gray, Ann T. Chalmers
Total- and methyl-mercury concentrations and methylation rates across the freshwater to hypersaline continuum of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA
We examined mercury (Hg) speciation in water and sediment of the Great Salt Lake and surrounding wetlands, a locale spanning fresh to hypersaline and oxic to anoxic conditions, in order to test the hypothesis that spatial and temporal variations in Hg concentration and methylation rates correspond to observed spatial and temporal trends in Hg burdens previously reported in biota. Water column, sed
Authors
William P. Johnson, Neil Swanson, Brooks Black, Abigail Rudd, Gregory Carling, Diego P. Fernandez, John Luft, Jim Van Leeuwen, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
Environmental contaminants and chromosomal damage associated with beak deformities in a resident North American passerine
A large cluster of beak abnormalities among black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) in Alaska raised concern about underlying environmental factors in this region. Metals and trace elements, organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD-Fs) were analyzed in adults, nestlings, and eggs of the affected
Authors
Colleen M. Handel, Caroline R. Van Hemert