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The Toxicological Effects of Intermittent Pollutant Exposures

EPA Grant Number: U915215
Title: The Toxicological Effects of Intermittent Pollutant Exposures
Investigators: Brent, Robert N.
Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
EPA Project Officer: Boddie, Georgette
Project Period: January 1, 1997 through January 1, 2000
Project Amount: $102,000
RFA: STAR Graduate Fellowships (1997)
Research Category: Fellowship - Toxicology , Health Effects , Academic Fellowships

Description:

Objective:

The objective of this research project is to investigate the toxicological effects of discontinuous or intermittent pollutant exposures on freshwater organisms and populations.

Approach:

The approach that this research has taken is to decompose the factors of magnitude, duration, and frequency that will determine episodic pollution effects. The first phase of the research investigated the effects of varying magnitude and duration of single-toxic exposures. Toxicity testing methods were adapted to subject freshwater organisms to contaminant exposures at a range of concentrations and brief exposure durations (on the order of episodic event time scales). Effects of brief cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn), and phenol exposures on Ceriodaphnia dubia, Hyalella azteca, and Pimephales promelas were assessed during a postexposure observation period of up to 7 days. The second phase of research was to investigate effects of exposure frequency. Important aspects of exposure frequency include the time period between exposures and the number of exposures per time period. This phase of the research utilized multiple C. dubia exposures to Cd and Zn that varied in both aspects of frequency. The final phase of the research incorporated information from single- and multiple-exposure testing into organism population models that may predict effects at the population level based on magnitude, duration, and frequency of exposure.

Supplemental Keywords:

fellowship, freshwater organisms, freshwater populations, toxicological effects, contaminants, pollutant exposures, toxics, toxics exposure. , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Scientific Discipline, RFA, ECOSYSTEMS, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, exploratory research environmental biology, Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecological Monitoring, Ecological Indicators, Environmental Chemistry, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecosystem Protection, Ecology and Ecosystems, Environmental Monitoring, toxic environmental contaminants, aquatic ecosystem, toxicity studies, toxicity, cadmium, contaminant impact, Phenol, Zinc, ecological assessment, assessment models

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The 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.

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