Grantee Research Project Results
1999 Progress Report: Resistance of Communities to Chronic Haloaromatic Contamination from Biogenic and Anthropogenic Sources
EPA Grant Number: R824776Title: Resistance of Communities to Chronic Haloaromatic Contamination from Biogenic and Anthropogenic Sources
Investigators: Lincoln, David E. , Woodin, Sarah A. , Lewis, V. Pernell , Lovell, Charles R.
Institution: University of South Carolina at Columbia
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: January 1, 1996 through December 1, 1998
Project Period Covered by this Report: January 1, 1998 through December 1, 1999
Project Amount: $470,000
RFA: Water and Watersheds (1995) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Watersheds , Water
Objective:
This project examines the extent to which the capacity to degrade naturally occurring halogenated aromatic compounds may determine the biological impact of anthropogenic halophenol pollutants on marine benthic communities. Despite the global prevalence of marine sedimentary habitats, the responses of biota in benthic assemblages to haloorganic compounds is poorly understood. Our conceptual model describing the role of biogenic haloorganics as structuring agents in marine sedimentary assemblages proposes that haloorganics act by decreasing rates of predation in and increasing emigration from contaminated habitats, but that taxa that naturally contain or degrade haloorganics are not affected deleteriously by these compounds. Further, tolerance of biogenic haloorganics is proposed as a basis for responses to analogous compounds of anthropogenic origin.Progress Summary:
The abundant worm, mollusc, and crustacean macroinfauna from two intertidal sandflat communities were examined for volatile organohalogens using GC-MS. Halogenated compounds were newly identified from 11 common polychaete species. Most (40 of ca. 54 taxa) of the numerically dominant macroinfaunal taxa at these two sites were examined in this survey; of these, 43 percent contained halometabolites, including several broadly distributed species. Thus, the potential for widespread occurrence of halogenated compounds among infauna is great.The hypothesis that taxa that naturally contain or degrade haloorganics would not be affected deleteriously by these compounds was tested. Sediments were reliably contaminated with 2,6-dibromophenol (10x over background) over a 2-week period in the field and the abundance and biochemical responses of infauna were examined. Body burden was 10x greater in intolerant than in tolerant taxa. Dehaloperoxidase (DHP) activity in intolerant taxa showed no significant increase or decreased by ~50 percent, a presumed biochemical stress response corroborated by the observed induction of stress protein synthesis.
The halophenols produced by many marine infaunal hemichordates and polychaetes have been suggested to have antimicrobial activity. Intact sediment cores were collected from a site inhabited by the bromophenol producing polychaete Notomastus lobatus and from a similar site having no bromometabolite producing infauna. No significant inhibition of respiration or assimilation by 4-bromophenol was observed, even at bromophenol levels 100x the ambient concentration in wormbed sediments. These data show that this naturally occurring bromoaromatic compound has no significant effect on community activity of sediment bacteria.
We used a cDNA library to obtain a full-length clone and sequence of the dehalogenase enzyme from the polychaete Amphitrite ornata. Translating the newly found nucleic acid sequence into an amino acid sequence allowed us to use crystallographic techniques to evaluate the functional structure of the dehalogenase enzyme. DHP has structural (and sequence) homology to the globin family of proteins and is the first example
Journal Articles on this Report : 9 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 27 publications | 16 publications in selected types | All 16 journal articles |
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Cowart JD, Fielman KT, Woodin SA, Lincoln DE. Halogenated metabolites in two marine polychaetes and their planktotrophic and lecithotrophic larvae. Marine Biology 2000;136(6):993-1002. |
R824776 (1999) R824776 (Final) |
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Fielman KT, Woodin SA, Walla MD, Lincoln DE. Widespread occurrence of natural halogenated organics among temperate marine infauna. Marine Ecology Progress Series 1999;181:1-12. |
R824776 (1999) R824776 (Final) |
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Fielman KT, Woodin SA, Lincoln DE. Polychaete indicator species as a source of natural halogenated organic compounds in marine sediments. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 2001;20(4):738-747. |
R824776 (1999) R824776 (Final) |
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Kihslinger RL, Woodin SA. Food patches and a surface deposit feeding spionid polychaete. Marine Ecology: Progress Series 2000;201:233-239. |
R824776 (1999) R824776 (Final) |
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Lebioda L, LaCount MW, Zhang E, Chen YP, Han K, Whitton MM, Lincoln DE, Woodin SA. An enzymatic globin from a marine worm -- Brief communications. Nature 1999;401(6752):445. |
R824776 (1999) R824776 (Final) R827612E01 (Final) R827612E02 (Final) |
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Lincoln DE, Fielman KT, Marinelli RL, Woodin SA. Bromophenol accumulation and sediment contamination by the polychaetes Notomastus lobatus (Capitellidae) and Thelepus crispus (Terebellidae). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 2005;33:559-570. |
R824776 (1999) R824776 (Final) |
not available |
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Lovell CR, Steward CC, Phillips T. Activity of marine sediment bacterial communities exposed to 4-bromophenol, a polychaete secondary metabolite. Marine Ecology Progress Series 1999;179:241-246. |
R824776 (1999) R824776 (Final) |
not available |
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Woodin SA. Biogenic determinants of marine benthic community composition: structures and smells. American Zoologist 1999;39. |
R824776 (1999) R824776 (Final) |
not available |
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Woodin SA. Shallow water benthic ecology: A North American perspective of sedimentary habitats. Australian Journal of Ecology 1999;24(4):291-301. |
R824776 (1999) R824776 (Final) |
not available |
Supplemental Keywords:
water, sediments, marine, estuary, ecological effects, population, enzymes, chemicals, toxics, PAHs, organics, ecosystem, restoration, aquatic, habitat, environmental chemistry, biology, ecology, genetics, zoology, survey, southeast, South Carolina, SC, Region 4., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Geographic Area, Water, Waste, Ecological Indicators, EPA Region, State, Ecosystem Protection, Chemistry, Agronomy, Biology, Watersheds, Environmental Chemistry, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Contaminated Sediments, exploratory research environmental biology, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecological Effects - Human Health, Hydrology, Wet Weather Flows, Chemical Mixtures - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Water & Watershed, contaminant transport, urban runoff, enzyme assays, urbanization, water quality, agricultural discharges, contaminated sediment, chronic haloaromatic contamination, aquatic ecosystem, industrial chemicals, region 4, South Carolina (SC), biogenic haloaromatic contamination, aquatic biota, bromophenol producing marine worms, ecological exposure, haloaromatic contamination, citizen perceptions, sediment, anthropogenic stresses, agricultural watershed, aquatic ecosystems, biological condition, ecological response, gene probes, anthropogenic processes, runoff, anthropogenic stress, ecological impacts, ecosystem responseProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.