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Evaluation of contaminants and their potential biological effects in Great Lakes tributaries

Dates

Acquisition
2016

Summary

Description of Work The first major goal of this project is to characterize and evaluate the extent to which contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) threaten fish and other wildlife in the Great Lakes. This includes identifying and characterizing CECs in the Great Lakes Basin, identifying risk-based screening concentrations for priority CECs, evaluating population-relevant effects of complex mixtures on biota, and identifying the Great Lakes waterways at greatest risk. The second major goal of this project is to pilot and develop a short-term and an ongoing long-term state-of-the-art bioeffects surveillance program for the Great Lakes basin. This includes developing strategies which will account for variable conditions at sampling [...]

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Purpose

One of the major objectives of the proposed GLRI Action Plan is to “Identify emerging contaminants and assess impacts on the Great Lakes fish and wildlife”. There are long-term programs for monitoring of selected contaminants in fish, lake sediments, air, precipitation, and lake water, but an analogous program for defining contaminant contributions from U.S. Great Lakes tributaries does not exist on a spatial scale that can be used to evaluate impacts in tributaries of all five lakes. A large and growing list of contaminants can be detected in Great Lakes tributaries. However, with such a large number of potential contaminants, it can be difficult to determine which ones are most biologically relevant. A program that incorporates consistent contaminant surveillance in concert with evaluation of biological effects is needed to provide a biologically-relevant prioritization of contaminants in a systematic manner for multiple watersheds that will inform Great Lakes-wide needs. This collaborative, interagency research program aims to address those challenges by coupling USGS expertise in contaminant monitoring and surveillance with the expertise of partner agencies in bioeffects surveillance.

Project Extension

projectStatusIn Progress

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