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Land Stewardship Science Team Active

By Environmental Health Program September 11, 2018

The Team Studies Resource Management Chemicals in the Environment

such as fire-fighting chemicals, mosquito-control insecticides, and rodenticides to understand if fish and wildlife are exposed

The Land Stewardship Integrated Science Team focuses on the potential for contaminant exposures in the environment that might originate from land management activities like wildfire and dust suppression, vector control (for example: mosquitos and rodents) and invasive species (Asian carp and nuisance plants). Perceived health risks to humans and other organisms will be distinguished from actual risks, if any. If actual risks are identified this project will inform how to economically and effectively minimize risk by providing scientific data and understandings about the management practice as well as related environmental transport, fate, and exposure pathways of contaminants and pathogens. Emphasis will be placed on addressing these issues on public and Department of Interior managed landscapes.

Managers of federal lands (national parks and monuments, wildlife refuges, wildlands, and others) at times need to utlize chemicals to respond to wild fires, wildlife disease, invasive species, and protection of visitors.  Questions arise about the potential for unintended exposures and unforeseen health effects to non-target organisms such as humans, fish, and wildlife.  The Land Stewardship Team addresses works to answer these questions and provides an understanding of mitigation strategies to to effectively minimize identified risks.

 

Science Questions and Activities

  • Do adult mosquito control pesticides pose a health risk for nontarget terrestrial invertebrates while effectively controlling mosquitoes?
  • What are the health risks to humans and wildlife, if any, due to chemical treatments on unpaved roads?
  • What is the risk of exposure and adverse health effects, if any, to non-target organisms associated with use of anticoagulant rodenticides?
  • What is the acute toxicity of candidate fire control chemicals being considered for the U.S. Forest Service Qualified Products List to early life stages of rainbow trout, a useful surrogate for protection of native species.
  • What is the health risk to biota due to the range of continuous, episodic, and short-lived exposures from spills of fire-fighting chemicals?
  • What is the non-target health risk to other aquatic biota when antimycin-laden microparticle formulations are used to control Asian Carp in the Great Lakes region?
  • Do chemicals used to control invasive crayfish in tanks on fish hatchery trucks pose a health risk to non-target organisms?
  • What are the risks, if any, of a pesticide used to benefit wildlife to non-target species?
  • What do wildlife incident data reveal about which pesticides are or are not responsible for adverse effects?
Dusty road conditions at Squaw Creek
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Dusty conditions prior to road treatment on the auto tour loop at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Squaw Creek NWR) in July of 2014. Loess Bluffs was the site of a large-scale field test of two dust suppressant products, with monitoring of product performance and environmental safety. Photo Credit: Bethany K. Kunz, USGS.

Below are other science teams and laboratories associated with this project.

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Mosquito, species not verified

Relative Sensitivity of Adult Mosquitoes and Butterflies to Adult Mosquito Control Pesticides

Mosquito control on Department of the Interior (DOI) managed lands is a resource management challenge. The pesticides used to control mosquitoes may also affect nontarget organisms whose conservation is one of the primary responsibilities of resource managers.
By
Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
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Relative Sensitivity of Adult Mosquitoes and Butterflies to Adult Mosquito Control Pesticides

Mosquito control on Department of the Interior (DOI) managed lands is a resource management challenge. The pesticides used to control mosquitoes may also affect nontarget organisms whose conservation is one of the primary responsibilities of resource managers.
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The following are the data releases from this science team’s research activities.

Uptake and toxicity of clothianidin to monarch butterflies from milkweed consumption (ver. 2.0, January 2020)

Recent concern for the adverse effects from neonicotinoid insecticides has centered on risk for insect pollinators in general and bees specifically. However, natural resource managers are also concerned about the risk of neonicotinoids to conservation efforts for the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and need a tool to estimate risk for wild monarch butterflies exposed to clothianidin. In the p
By
Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Below are publications associated with this science team. 

Brodifacoum toxicity in American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) with evidence of increased hazard upon subsequent anticoagulant rodenticide exposure

A seminal question in ecotoxicology is the extent to which contaminant exposure evokes prolonged effects on physiological function and fitness. A series of studies were undertaken with American kestrels ingesting environmentally realistic concentrations of the second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide (SGAR) brodifacoum (BROD). Kestrels fed BROD at 0.3, 1.0 or 3.0 µg/g diet wet wt for 7 d exhibi
By
Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Early life exposure to triphenyl phosphate: Effects on thyroid function, growth, and resting metabolic rate of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) chicks

Triphenyl phosphate (TPHP; CAS # 115-86-6), a commonly used plasticizer and flame retardant, has been reported in wild birds and identified as a potential high-risk chemical. We exposed Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) by in ovo injection, and once hatched, orally each day for 5 days to safflower oil (controls) or TPHP dissolved in vehicle at low (5 ng TPHP/g), mid (50 ng TPHP/g), or high (100 n
By
Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Anticoagulant rodenticides in Strix owls indicate widespread exposure in west coast forests

Exposure of nontarget wildlife to anticoagulant rodenticides (AR) is a global conservation concern typically centered around urban or agricultural areas. Recently, however, the illegal use of ARs in remote forests of California, USA, has exposed sensitive predators, including the federally threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). We used congeneric barred owls (S. varia) as a
By
Ecosystems, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Understanding and mitigating bee drownings in open feeders

Whereas open feeders are relatively inexpensive and are easily set up and maintained, they do present a drowning hazard to bees. We observed that bees feeding off the walls of the open container fell into the sugar water because of their incarnation, interactions with other bees and when shooed off the feeder walls while removing the feeder for cleaning. Twigs, angled laths and utility screen perc
By
Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Assessment of bird exposure to lead at Tyndall and Beale Air Force Bases, 2016–17

Soil contamination by lead (Pb) from past small munitions training on Beale Air Force Base, California, and Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, may result in adverse effects for passerine birds that utilize the locations. A study was conducted during 2016-17 by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Air Force, at both Air Force Bases (AFBs) to asse
By
Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Use of blood clotting assays to assess potential anticoagulant rodenticide exposure and effects in free-ranging birds of prey

Non-target wildlife, particularly birds of prey, are widely exposed to and acutely poisoned by anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs). An unresolved issue surrounding such exposure, however, is the potential for sublethal effects. In particular, the consequences of AR exposure and resulting coagulopathy on health and survival of unintentionally exposed animals, which often encounter a multitude of anthr
By
Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Embryonic effects of an environmentally relevant PCB mixture in the domestic chicken

Studies were conducted to develop methods to assess the effects of a complex mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the domestic chicken (Gallus domesticus). Treatments were administered by egg injection to compare embryonic effects of an environmentally relevant PCB congener mixture in the domestic chicken over a range of doses. Chicken eggs were injected with the PCB mixture with a profi
By
Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Columbia Environmental Research Center

Use of real-time dust monitoring and surface condition to evaluate success of unpaved road treatments

Fugitive dust from unpaved roads creates human health hazards, degrades road surfaces, and increases the cost of road maintenance. As a result, many different chemical treatments are applied to unpaved roads in an attempt to control dust and stabilize the wearing course. However, investigations of the effectiveness of these treatments have often been poorly planned or executed. The objective of th
By
Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Columbia Environmental Research Center

Anticoagulant rodenticides and wildlife: Introduction

Rodents have interacted with people since the beginning of systematic food storage by humans in the early Neolithic era. Such interactions have had adverse outcomes such as threats to human health, spoiling and consumption of food sources, damage to human infrastructure and detrimental effects on indigenous island wildlife (through inadvertent anthropogenic assisted introductions). These socio/eco
By
Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity to non-target wildlife under controlled exposure conditions

Much of our understanding of anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity to non-target wildlife has been derived from molecular through whole animal research and registration studies in domesticated birds and mammals, and to a lesser degree from trials with captive wildlife. Using these data, an adverse outcome pathway identifying molecular initiating and anchoring events (inhibition of vitamin K epoxide r
By
Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Anticoagulant rodenticides and wildlife: Concluding remarks

Rodents are known to affect human society globally in various adverse ways, resulting in a widespread demand for their continuous control. Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) have been, and currently remain, the cornerstone of rodent control throughout the world. Although alternative control methods exist, they are generally less effective. ARs work by affecting vitamin K metabolism, thereby preventi
By
Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center