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Environmental chemical mixtures: Assessing ecological exposure and effects in streams
Citation:
Buxton, H., T. Reilly, K. Kuivila, D. Kolpin, P. Bradley, Dan Villeneuve, AND M. Mills. Environmental chemical mixtures: Assessing ecological exposure and effects in streams. USGS, Corvallis, OR, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
What chemicals occur together in our streams and at what levels are they present? How do the varied land- and chemical-use patterns across the Nation influence the number and type of environmental contaminants in our streams? How do these chemicals enter the stream? Once in the stream, are they likely to cause adverse health effects to fish and other aquatic organisms? Do these chemicals interact biologically in unanticipated ways that may cause surprising health outcomes? Could people be exposed to these chemicals? These are just some of the questions that the U.S. Geological Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency hope to help answer with a new study being conducted in streams across the Nation. The objective of the study is to document the range of chemical mixtures and biological activity of stream waters in watersheds that are affected by diverse contaminant sources. Although the chemical and biological testing methods available are limited, this study brings the broadest range of testing ever performed on environmental samples collected in the United States. The results of this study will (1) document the mixtures and associated concentrations of chemicals found in stream waters, (2) help identify potential ecological and human exposures, (3) guide prioritization of toxicological studies of chemical mixtures, (4) provide insight into potential biological interaction of multiple contaminants, (5) help relate bioassay screening approaches to environmental chemical characterization, and (6) provide a base of data for models to predict chemical mixtures in watersheds affected by diverse land- and chemical-use patterns and their potential ecological or human health effects. Results of this research support multiple tasks across national research programs including CSS and SSWR.
Description:
This product is a USGS fact sheet that describes a collaborative effort between USGS and US EPA to characterize exposures to chemical mixtures and associated biological effects for a diverse range of US streams representing varying watershed size, land-use patterns, and ecotypes.
