ASSESSMENT OF METAL CONTAMINATION AND ECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

该项目旨在评估两国之间的关系 环境保护局新贝德福德港区的微生物群落和污染物 指定的超级基金站点，并获得对 生态系统的健康。该项目将建立在一个广泛的数据库基础上 在我们NIEHS赞助的超级基金项目的前三年获得， 用于测量有毒金属的分布和运输 整个新贝德福德港地区。这项研究的下一阶段是 分为三部分：生物利用度和生物累积率 污染物、修复工作对生态系统健康的影响，以及 环境“微生物群落生物标志物”的研究进展 压力。 第一部分将扩展目前对沉积物和金属熔剂的研究 解决有毒金属对生物群的后续生物有效性问题 通过食物链的生物积累，从沉积物到无脊椎动物 甲壳动物对可食用物种，特别是经济上的 重要的冬季比目鱼。第二部分将检查污染物羽流 从疏浚活动中释放出来，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的评估 新贝德福德港盐沼的修复。盐沼生态会 预计将对生态系统健康的变化做出快速反应。第三 部分设计用于表征受污染的微生物群落 以及从微生物和基因上清理场地。这项研究是 主要设计用于产生微生物生态系统参数，可以 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.