Biological responses to organic & metal contamination

本项目旨在评估马萨诸塞州新贝德福德港（NBH）的生态健康状况，该港口是美国环保署指定的超级基金所在地。在前人研究NBH沉积物中金属的分布以及金属与微生物群落之间相互作用的基础上，我们建议对生物群中有机和无机污染物的积累进行评估。然而，仅凭积累并不能提供生态效应的证据。因此，我们将研究微生物群对污染物的生理和生化反应，包括对其内分泌系统的影响。我们也将继续开发微生物群落的生物标志物污染物暴露，基于诱导的遗传反应。最终目的是提供一套可用于评估生态系统健康的暴露生物标志物。我们建议整合生态毒理学、分子微生物学和地球化学来开发反映环境污染物与其对高等生物可利用性之间关系的技术。这将通过一系列实验室和实地研究来完成，这些研究旨在确定候选生物标志物，并将其在实地样本中的表达频率与污染物物种形成（项目9）和生物摄取测量联系起来。

This project is evaluate the ecological health of New Bedford Harbor, MA (NBH), an EPA designated Superfund Site. Building on previous research that focused on distribution of metals in NBH sediments and the interactions between metals and metals and microbial communities, we propose to evaluate both organic and inorganic contaminant accumulation in the biota. Accumulation alone, however, does not provide evidence of ecological effect. We will therefore examine physiological and biochemical responses in the macrobiota to pollutants, including effects on their endocrine systems. We will also continue to develop microbial community biomarkers of contaminant exposure, based on induction of genetic responses. The ultimate aim is to provide a suite of exposure biomarkers that can be used to evaluate ecosystem health. We propose to integrate ecotoxicology, molecular microbiology and geochemistry to develop techniques reflecting the relationship between environmental contaminants and their bioavailability to higher organisms. This will be accomplished through a series of laboratory and field studies designed to identify candidate biomarkers and relate their frequency of expression in field samples with contaminant speciation (Project 9) and biological uptake measurements.