The Fishing and Hunting integrated science team focuses on contaminant and pathogen exposures in the environment that could impact the presence and vitality of fish and wildlife populations that drive commercial, recreational and subsistence activities such as hunting and fishing. If actual risks are identified this project will inform how to economically and effectively minimize risk by providing scientific data and understandings about the environmental transport, fate, and exposure pathways of contaminants and pathogens. Emphasis will be placed on addressing these issues on public and Department of the Interior managed landscapes.
Fish and wildlife that are healthy, abundant, and safe to eat drive many economically valuable commercial, recreational, and subsistence activities, and are a treasured part of the American landscape.
Contaminant and pathogen exposures are known to influence these natural resources. Team scientists together with other federal, state, and university collaborators, conduct scientific research that provides information to economically and effectively minimize risk to fish and wildlife by understanding the environmental transport, fate, exposure pathways, and potential effects of contaminants and pathogens. Because fish and wildlife can move over sometimes large distances, the Team studies exposure to contaminants and pathogens across landscapes, particularly on public lands and those managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Current Science Questions and Activities
![Micrograph of testes from male smallmouth bass](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/side_image/public/thumbnails/image/male_smallmouth_bass_oocytes_blazer.jpg?itok=X4Gn_I8I)
- Are sport fish in the Northeast U.S. exposed to chemical contaminants that are adversely affecting their health, reproduction and populations?
- How important are contaminants in relation to other risk factors (climatic, water quality, parasite, pathogen) influencing adverse health effects in Northeast United States sport fish?
- What is the susceptibility of black bass to formation of intersex from exposure to endocrine disrupting contaminants?
- Do exposures to endocrine disrupting contaminants during early development cause adverse outcomes later in life in wild fish.
- Are sublethal contaminant exposures causing waterfowl mortalities due to secondary factors such as starvation?
- What are the land use, habitat, and ecological factors that control pesticide and mercury exposures in sportfish from the Columbia River Basin?
- Are pesticide and mercury concentrations correlated with biomarkers of adverse health impacts of sportfish in the Columbia River Basin?
- Is there a human health risk due to pesticide and mercury in sportfish harvested from the Columbia River basin?
- Is the body condition of ducks harvested by hunters in the Pacific Flyway adversely impacted by environmental mercury exposures?
- Is there a human health risk due to mercury in ducks harvested in the Pacific Flyway?
- Are viruses risk factors associated with the genesis of liver or skin tumors?
The following are the data releases from this science team’s research activities.
Motility of sperm from adult largemouth bass pond exposure to 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol or estrone-atrazine mixture (2018)
Water chemistry and fish metrics data for adult largemouth bass exposed in outdoor ponds to 17alpha-ethinylestradiol or an estrone-atrazine mixture
Water Chemistry and Smallmouth Bass Biological Data From the Potomac River, Dargan, Maryland, 2013-2019
Data supporting: Draft Genome Sequence of a Novel Calicivirus from a Brown Bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) from Lake Memphremagog, VT
Chemical and biological data from a study on sensitivity of a unionid mussel (Lampsilis siliquoidea) to a permitted effluent and elevated potassium
Biological variables and liver and testes transcript abundance from smallmouth bass sampled in the Lake Erie drainage, Pennsylvania (2016)
Chemical and biological data from a study on method development for a short term 7 day sodium chloride and mock effluent toxicity tests with unionid mussels
Presence/Absence of Myxobolus inornatus, Aeromonas spp., and Flavobacterium spp. in Young-of-the-Year Smallmouth Bass with Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization
Morphometric, Age, Visible Abnormalities, Skin and Liver Neoplasms, and Stable Isotopes in White Sucker Collected in the St. Louis River and Estuary, Minnesota/Wisconsin, 2011-2015
Morphometric, Age and Concentrations of Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Smallmouth Bass Plasma from Four Sites in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Metabarcoding data from freshwater mussel eDNA collected in Clinch River, Virginia 2017
Mucket eDNA detection in Wallen's Bend, Clinch river, Tennessee, September 2019
Below are publications associated with this science team.
Declines in reproductive condition of male largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) following seasonal exposure to estrogenic endocrine-disrupting compounds
A case study: Temporal trends of environmental stressors and reproductive health of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) from a site in the Potomac River Watershed, Maryland, USA
Potential health effects of contaminant mixtures from point and nonpoint sources on fish and frogs in the New Jersey Pinelands
Draft genome sequence of a novel calicivirus from a brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) from Lake Memphremagog, Vermont/Quebec
Temporal trends in macroscopic indicators of fish health in the South Branch of the Potomac River
Reproductive health and endocrine disruption in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) from the Lake Erie drainage, Pennsylvania, USA
Development of a multiplex fluorescence in situ hybridization assay to identify coinfections in young-of-the-year smallmouth bass
Method development for a short-term 7-day toxicity test with unionid mussels
The sensitivity of a unionid mussel (Lampsilis siliquoidea) to a permitted effluent and elevated potassium in the effluent
Targeted and non-targeted analysis of young-of-year smallmouth bass using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry
Identification of Aphanomyces invadans, the cause of epizootic ulcerative syndrome, in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) from the Cheat River, West Virginia, USA
Biological and anthropogenic influences on macrophage aggregates in white perch Morone americana from Chesapeake Bay, USA
The Fishing and Hunting integrated science team focuses on contaminant and pathogen exposures in the environment that could impact the presence and vitality of fish and wildlife populations that drive commercial, recreational and subsistence activities such as hunting and fishing. If actual risks are identified this project will inform how to economically and effectively minimize risk by providing scientific data and understandings about the environmental transport, fate, and exposure pathways of contaminants and pathogens. Emphasis will be placed on addressing these issues on public and Department of the Interior managed landscapes.
Fish and wildlife that are healthy, abundant, and safe to eat drive many economically valuable commercial, recreational, and subsistence activities, and are a treasured part of the American landscape.
Contaminant and pathogen exposures are known to influence these natural resources. Team scientists together with other federal, state, and university collaborators, conduct scientific research that provides information to economically and effectively minimize risk to fish and wildlife by understanding the environmental transport, fate, exposure pathways, and potential effects of contaminants and pathogens. Because fish and wildlife can move over sometimes large distances, the Team studies exposure to contaminants and pathogens across landscapes, particularly on public lands and those managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Current Science Questions and Activities
![Micrograph of testes from male smallmouth bass](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/side_image/public/thumbnails/image/male_smallmouth_bass_oocytes_blazer.jpg?itok=X4Gn_I8I)
- Are sport fish in the Northeast U.S. exposed to chemical contaminants that are adversely affecting their health, reproduction and populations?
- How important are contaminants in relation to other risk factors (climatic, water quality, parasite, pathogen) influencing adverse health effects in Northeast United States sport fish?
- What is the susceptibility of black bass to formation of intersex from exposure to endocrine disrupting contaminants?
- Do exposures to endocrine disrupting contaminants during early development cause adverse outcomes later in life in wild fish.
- Are sublethal contaminant exposures causing waterfowl mortalities due to secondary factors such as starvation?
- What are the land use, habitat, and ecological factors that control pesticide and mercury exposures in sportfish from the Columbia River Basin?
- Are pesticide and mercury concentrations correlated with biomarkers of adverse health impacts of sportfish in the Columbia River Basin?
- Is there a human health risk due to pesticide and mercury in sportfish harvested from the Columbia River basin?
- Is the body condition of ducks harvested by hunters in the Pacific Flyway adversely impacted by environmental mercury exposures?
- Is there a human health risk due to mercury in ducks harvested in the Pacific Flyway?
- Are viruses risk factors associated with the genesis of liver or skin tumors?
The following are the data releases from this science team’s research activities.
Motility of sperm from adult largemouth bass pond exposure to 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol or estrone-atrazine mixture (2018)
Water chemistry and fish metrics data for adult largemouth bass exposed in outdoor ponds to 17alpha-ethinylestradiol or an estrone-atrazine mixture
Water Chemistry and Smallmouth Bass Biological Data From the Potomac River, Dargan, Maryland, 2013-2019
Data supporting: Draft Genome Sequence of a Novel Calicivirus from a Brown Bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) from Lake Memphremagog, VT
Chemical and biological data from a study on sensitivity of a unionid mussel (Lampsilis siliquoidea) to a permitted effluent and elevated potassium
Biological variables and liver and testes transcript abundance from smallmouth bass sampled in the Lake Erie drainage, Pennsylvania (2016)
Chemical and biological data from a study on method development for a short term 7 day sodium chloride and mock effluent toxicity tests with unionid mussels
Presence/Absence of Myxobolus inornatus, Aeromonas spp., and Flavobacterium spp. in Young-of-the-Year Smallmouth Bass with Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization
Morphometric, Age, Visible Abnormalities, Skin and Liver Neoplasms, and Stable Isotopes in White Sucker Collected in the St. Louis River and Estuary, Minnesota/Wisconsin, 2011-2015
Morphometric, Age and Concentrations of Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Smallmouth Bass Plasma from Four Sites in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Metabarcoding data from freshwater mussel eDNA collected in Clinch River, Virginia 2017
Mucket eDNA detection in Wallen's Bend, Clinch river, Tennessee, September 2019
Below are publications associated with this science team.