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Investigation of Organic Chemicals Potentially Responsible for Mortality and Intersex in Fish of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, Virginia, during Spring of 2007

This study determined that concentrations of persistent hydrophobic contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (< picograms per liter), legacy pesticides (<10 picograms per liter), and polychlorinated biphenyls (<280 picograms per liter) were low and indicative of a largely agricultural area. Atrazine and simazine were the most More...

  • Open File report cover - Map showing location of the two sampling sites on the North Fork of the She

Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) Program: Environmental Contaminants, Health Indicators, and Reproductive Biomarkers in Fish from the Colorado River Basin

This report documents the spatial trends in the concentrations of accumulative contaminants and assesses the contaminant effects on the fish from the Colorado River Basin.

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Sediment-Contaminant Database for the Upper Mississippi River System (version 2)

The Sediment-Contaminant Database for the Upper Mississippi River System (version 2) contains reliable sediment-contaminant data from a total of 3950 analyzed sediment samples collected from 1974 through 2000 from the Upper Mississippi River, the Illinois River, and selected tributary streams. Groups of contaminants represented in the database More...

  • logo of the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee

Bioaccumulation and Effects of PCBs on Tree Swallows Nesting along the Housatonic River, Massachusetts

Research at the Upper Midwest Environmental Center, which gathered detailed observations on tree swallow nesting success and contaminant concentrations in 1998-2000, to guide EPA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in effectively managing the risk of chemical contaminants to wildlife and the environment.

  • Warning sign near the Housatonic River

Seabird Tissue Archival and Monitoring Project (STAMP)

This project is a joint effort for developing and testing protocols for collecting, processing, transporting, and storing seabird eggs collected at several Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR) colonies. Seabird Tissue Archival and Monitoring Project (STAMP) is a long-term, cooperative project that is currently collecting, processing, More...

  • image of common (center) and thick-billed Murres

It's in the Air: The Ecological Effects of Nitrogen Deposition in Rocky Mountain National Park

Encroaching development, overuse, and air- and waterborne contaminants from outside park boundaries are causing noticeable changes to water quality and ecosystem health and functioning. The Front Range metropolitan area from Fort Collins south to Colorado Springs includes 75 percent of Colorado's population and its most productive agricultural More...

  • Photo of lead investigator Dr. Jill Baron preparing to extract water from a soil lysimeter

Bioaccumulation of Mercury by Fish and Fish-forage Organisms in Camp Far West Reservoir, Yuba and Placer Counties, California

Mercury contamination from historic gold mining operations is widespread in many rivers, lakes, and reservoirs on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. A multidisciplinary investigation by USGS is attempting to better understand mercury dynamics and to identify hot spots within Camp Far West Reservoir in order to determine if remediation More...

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Persistence of organochlorine chemical residues in fish from the Tombigbee River (Alabama, USA): Continuing risk to wildlife from a former DDT manufacturing facility

Organochlorine pesticide and total polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations were measured in largemouth bass from the Tombigbee River near a former DDT manufacturing facility at McIntosh, Alabama. Concentrations of DDT isomers in McIntosh bass remained unchanged from 1974 to 2004 and were four times greater than contemporary concentrations More...

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Chemical Contamination of Hatchery Fish Feed

This project addresses the occurrence of metal and organochlorine contaminant residues in commercial feeds purchased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) hatcheries. Research into fish feed quality could benefit all hatchery and aquaculture operations and assist in the interpretation of the effects of pollution on wild fish. Results from More...

  • Salmon with broken back syndrome

AIMS: The Avian Incident Monitoring System

he Avian Incident Monitoring System (AIMS) is a cooperative program between American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Through AIMS, ABC is implementing programs dedicated to data collection, storage and presentation, and programs dedicated to improving identification, investigation, and laboratory analysis More...

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Environmental Contaminants and their Effects on Fish in the Yukon River Basin

The study described in this report was conducted as part of the USGS Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) Program. This project collected, examined, and analyzed 217 fish representing three species at 10 stations in the US portion of the Yukon River Basin (YRB) from May to October 2002. Four sampling sites were located on the More...

  • Aerial view of the Charley River at Yukon

Conservation Genetics: Plants

This web page presents samples of genetics and genomics research from the USGS Biological Resources Discipline about the conservation genetics of plants.

  • John A. Young sampling American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) for genetic analysis.