Community-Based Biosignatures of Exposure and Functional Response in the Sediment-Water Interface of the Hyporheic Zone and Periphyton Community in River Systems
EMSL Project ID
23190
Abstract
Biomarkers that indicate change in the biotic community due to the presence of contamination in the sediment-water interface can be used as part of monitoring programs assessing remediation activities. Groundwater mixes with river water beneath the stream bed in an area known as the hyporheic zone. The microbial communities within this zone and periphytic communities (biofilm primarily composed of algae and diatoms) on the surface of the river bottom will be exposed to, and potentially impacted by, contaminants in the groundwater. This project will screen the phylogenetically diverse periphyton community for biomarker activity in response to uranium exposure. This effort will contribute to developing integrated ecosystem predictive models for application at sites addressing uranium contamination through the sediment-water interface of aquatic systems. The dose-response curves generated during exposure studies will be used to benchmark standard ecotoxicological methods for risk assessment with biochemical and molecular methods of biomarker discovery, in an effort to validate those latter techniques as viable and appropriate for monitoring contaminant impacts in the field.
Project Details
Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2007-02-13
End Date
2008-02-17
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members