Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC)

4200 New Haven Road
Columbia, Missouri  65201-8709
Phone: 573-875-5399
Fax: 573-876-1896
http://www.cerc.usgs.gov/

CERC scientists conduct work in all research components of the USGS Contaminant Biology Program (CPB) - chemistry, toxicology, contaminated habitats, and integration of ecological stressors. Below are presented samples of CERC research by each of the CPB research components.

Chemistry: Analytical Chemistry

• Development of Analytical Methods for Determining Organic Contaminants in Environmental Matrices

Chemistry: Passive Samplers

• Columbia Environmental Research Center's Integrative Passive Samplers
  • SPMD  semipermeable membrane device
    Development and Application of Semipermeable Membrane Devices (SPMDs) as Environmental Dosimeters for Contaminants in Water, Air, Sediment and Soil
    
    
  • POCIS  polar organic chemical integrative sampler 
    Download POCIS info sheet (PDF - get Adobe Reader), plus a slide show
    
    
  • PIMS  passive integrative mercury sampler  (PIMS info sheet)
    
    
  • SLMD  stabilized liquid membrane device  (SLMD info sheet)
    
    
• Development and Application of Semipermeable Membrane Devices (SPMDs) as Environmental Dosimeters for Contaminants in Water, Air, Sediment and Soil

Toxicology: Biomarkers, Tools and Methods

• Development and Testing of Biomarkers: Suitability for Use in the Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) Program

• Immunochemical Methods for the Determination of Environmental Contaminants and Their Biochemical Responses in Fish

Toxicology: Aquatic Toxicology

• Development of Methods for Assessing the Quality of Marine and Estuarine Sediments

• Development of Microscale Toxicity Tests and Risk Assessment Strategies for Resource Contaminant Problems

• Embryonic, Developmental, and Early Life Stage Toxicity of Environmental Contaminants in Fish
  

Toxicology: Endocrine Disruption

• USGS Endocrine Disruptor Projects in Biology
  

Contaminated Habitats: Mercury

• Determination of Total Mercury in Fillets of Sport Fishes Collected from Folsom Reservoir, California, 2006, Open-file report 2006-1078
  
  
• Determination of Total Mercury in Fillets of Sport Fishes Collected from Folsom and New Melones Reservoirs, California, 2004, Open-file report 2007-1077
  
  
• Determination of Total Mercury in Whole-Body Fish and Fish Muscle Plugs Collected from the South Fork of the Humboldt River, Nevada, September 2005, Open-file report 2007-1059

Contaminated Habitats: Hazardous Waste Sites

• Assessment of the Aquatic Toxicity of Leachates from an Abandoned Uranium Tailings Pile Adjacent to the Upper Colorado River

Contaminated Habitats: Agricultural Areas, Rangelands, and Forests

• Photoenhanced Toxicity of Forest and Range Management Chemicals to Amphibians
  
  
• Toxicity of Forest Fire Retardant and Foam Suppressant Chemicals to Aquatic Plant and Animal Communities
  
  
• Toxicity of Simulated Agricultural Irrigation Drainwater to Colorado Squawfish, Bonytail Chub, and Razorback
  
  
• Effects of Environmental Contaminants on Major Wildlife Species of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Integration of Ecological Stressors

• Contaminant Trends in Fisheries of the Nation's Major Lakes and Streams: National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program (NCBP)
  
  
• Development of Microscale Toxicity Tests and Risk Assessment Strategies for Resource Contaminant Problems
  
  
• Potential for Chromium to Adversely Affect Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawystcha) Under Exposure Conditions Simulating the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, Washington, USA
  
  
• BEST Database Query Tool - fish health and contaminant concentrations in fish from the Mississippi River, Columbia River, Yukon River, Colorado River and Rio Grande 
  
  
• Ecotoxicological Investigations of Effects of Contaminants on Native Wildlife Species
  
  
• Immunochemical Methods for the Determination of Environmental Contaminants and Their Biochemical Responses in Fish