Browse All Research Projects

Research has documented exposures and consequential environmental health effects of pesticides, PFAS, microplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes in environmental biota. Little is known, however, regarding such effects in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

Supported by: Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and U.S. Geological Survey Species Management Program, Ecosystems Mission Area

One major challenge in spill response is for the screening of oil samples in the field to guide sample collection and enable rapid decisions.

The Columbia Environmental Research Center’s Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) team conducts research focusing on the occurrence, fate, and toxicity of PFAS compounds in aquatic and terrestrial systems. Laboratory capabilities include dedicated analytical instrumentation and experimental facilities to allow USGS scientists to analyze a wide range of sample types including water, sediment...

The CERC Eco-flume is a continuous-loop, racetrack style flume. It is housed in a 1,350 square-foot laboratory at CERC and will be used to study transport phenomena and biophysical processes in river environments.

Fluorochemicals are a class of structurally diverse synthetic compounds that contain a carbon-fluorine backbone.

Freshwater mussels are one of the most critically imperiled groups of organisms worldwide. Encouraging mussel reproduction in a controlled setting has become an area of interest due to their widespread population declines and regional extinctions (Williams et al., 1993; Lydeard et al., 2004; Strayer et al., 2004; Haag 2012; Lopes-Lima et al., 2017). With constantly evolving techniques, rearing...

Summary of the published study: Exposure to 17α-ethinylestradiol results in differential susceptibility of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) to bacterial infection (Leet et al. in review)

USGS researchers are working with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute to optimize autonomous, robotic samplers for detection of DNA fragments shed by biological threats (BT; invasive species, parasites, pathogens) in our nation’s waters. Finding DNA fragments (a method known as environmental DNA sampling) produced by an emerging BT in water is akin to finding a needle in a haystack—many...

Mass removal of the invasive silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis (collectively referred to as bigheaded carp) is a primary management action in the United States to contain population growth and reduce upstream dispersal. Efficient capture and removal techniques are required to achieve this goal, and the USGS is working to develop and evaluate such...

Effects-directed analysis (EDA) reverse-engineers environmental toxicity testing by measuring effects on cells first, and identifying the particular chemicals later. In this publication, we reviewed published information on EDA methods to improve future methods.

Early development is a sensitive window for estrogenic endocrine disruption in largemouth bass. Atrazine treatments caused changes to gene expression patterns that were both similar to estrogen and distinct from estrogen.