ASSESSMENT OF METAL CONTAMINATION AND ECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

本项目旨在评估 微生物群落和污染物在新贝德福德港口地区，环保署 指定的超级基金网站，并获得全面的评估， 生态系统的健康。 该项目将建立在一个广泛的数据库 在nIEHS赞助的超级基金项目的前三年获得的， 旨在测量有毒金属的分布和运输 整个新贝德福德港地区 下一阶段的研究是 生物利用度和生物累积率 污染物，补救措施对生态系统健康的影响，以及 环境污染“微生物群落生物标志物”的开发 应力 第一部分将扩展目前对沉积物中金属通量的研究， 解决有毒金属随后对生物群的生物利用率问题， 通过食物链，从沉积物无脊椎动物， 甲壳纲动物到可食用物种，特别是经济上 重要的冬比目鱼 第二部分将研究污染物羽流 并密切监测对生物群的影响 在特定的地点。 这将包括对以下方面的影响进行评价： 对新贝德福德港盐沼的整治。 盐沼生态学将 预计将对生态系统健康的变化迅速作出反应。 第三 部分旨在表征污染的微生物群落 从微生物和基因两方面来清洁场地。 本研究是 主要用于产生微生物生态系统参数， 被认为是环境压力的生物标志物。

This project is designed to evaluate the interrelationships between the microbial community and pollutants in the New Bedford Harbor area, an EPA designated Superfund Site, and obtain a comprehensive evaluation of the health of the ecosystem. This project will build on an extensive database obtained in the first three years of our nIEHS sponsored superfund project, designed to measure the distribution and transport of toxic metals throughout the New Bedford Harbor area. This next phase of the research is divided into three parts: bioavailability and bioaccumulation rates of contaminants, effect of remediation efforts on the ecosystem health, and the development of a "microbial community biomarker" of environmental stress. Part one will extend current research on metal fluxes from sediments and address subsequent bioavailability of toxic metals to the biota and bioaccumulation through the food chain, from sediment invertebrates through the crustacea to the edible species, particularly the economically important Winter Flounder. Part two will examine contaminant plumes released from dredging activity and closely monitor the effect on the biota at specific locations. This will include an evaluation of the effects of remediation on New Bedford Harbor salt marshes. Salt marsh ecology would be expected to responds rapidly to changes in ecosystem health. The third part is designed to characterize the microbial communities from polluted and clean sites both microbiologically and genetically. This research is designed primarily to produce microbial ecosystem parameters that can be considered biomarkers of environmental stress.