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Microbial Community Diversity, Structural and Functional Responses to Multi-Component Metal Contamination of River Benthic Systems

EPA Grant Number: R829400E03
Title: Microbial Community Diversity, Structural and Functional Responses to Multi-Component Metal Contamination of River Benthic Systems
Investigators: Holben, William E. , Gannon, James , Moore, Johnnie , Rillig, Matthias
Institution: University of Montana
EPA Project Officer: Winner, Darrell
Project Period: September 24, 2001 through September 22, 2004
Project Amount: $375,000
RFA: EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) (2000)
Research Category: EPSCoR (The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research)

Description:

Objective:

The objective of this research project is to develop detailed information about the composition, physiological activities, and chemical environment of microbial communities in river sediments contaminated with mine wastes. These experiments test five hypotheses: (1) initial exposure to metals inhibits or kills sensitive organisms, leaves tolerant populations as dominant, and produces an initial net decrease in diversity; (2) gradual changes in microbial community structure and function occur as the resident community becomes more tolerant of metal contamination; (3) decreased apparent toxicity from metal contamination occurs with prolonged exposure as a result of increased tolerance; (4) bacterial community changes can be indicative of the ecological health of watersheds because of the primary role bacteria play in biogeochemical processes and their basal position in ecosystem trophic structure; and (5) microbial communities respond to perturbation through changes in abundance of specific populations, or through altered patterns of physiological/metabolic activity.

Publications and Presentations:

Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 6 publications for this project

Journal Articles:

Journal Articles have been submitted on this project: View all 4 journal articles for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

microbial community, heavy metal, DNA, mining, restoration, indicators, Montana, MT, PCR, microbial community structure, perturbation, hyporheic sediments, heavy metal contamination, sediment metal loads , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, POLLUTANTS/TOXICS, Water, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, Geographic Area, Scientific Discipline, Waste, RFA, Arsenic, Microbiology, Chemicals, Hazardous Waste, Water Pollutants, EPA Region, Fate & Transport, Environmental Chemistry, Hazardous, Monitoring/Modeling, Ecology and Ecosystems, Environmental Monitoring, State, heavy metals, aquatic ecosystem, contaminant transport models, chemical transport models, fate and transport, mining impacted watershed, fate and transport , mining, mining wastes, groundwater, monitoring, chemical kinetics, contaminant dynamics, contaminant transport, Region 8, groundwater contamination, analytical chemistry, mine tailings, stream ecosystem, chemical releases

Progress and Final Reports:
Final Report

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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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