SERDP CU-1129 Biological Assessment for Characterizing Contamination Risk at the Genetic-, Individual-, and Population-Level

摘要

The objective of this project is to develop a suite of technically defensible assays that can be effectively used in regulatory programs to quantify the ecological risk of contaminated sediments at the molecular-, individual-, and population-level. Effects-based assays will be developed which effectively account for contaminant bioavailability while providing an integrated measure of the toxicity of complex mixtures. Dose-response information will be generated for military-relevant contaminants (e.g., TNT, RDX, HMX) by measuring molecular and whole organism responses. Population-level impacts caused by contaminant exposure will be projected using population models developed during this project. A screening approach will be developed to provide cost-effective information about the potential for impacts at the population-level. In developing this screening approach, we will quantify the biological and ecological significance of toxicant effects on gene expression by way of comparison to whole organism toxicity and modeled population-level impacts.