Mebane, C.A., Simon, N.S. & Maret, T.R. Hydrobiologia (2014) 722: 143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1693-4
Christopher Mebane
Biography
I am a "dirty water biologist" with interests and experience in water pollution ecology in streams, that is, relating human-influences on stream environments to biological effects and estimating risks of adverse effects. My recent interests and work have included effects of mining and trace elements on stream ecosystems, developing biotic ligand models (BLMs) to predict effects of metal mixtures in natural waters, and studies of nutrient enrichments and eutrophication in streams.
My professional interests and experience are focused on water pollution ecology in streams, that is, relating human-influences on stream environments to biological effects and estimating risks of adverse effects. Particular areas of interests include:
*Effects of nutrient enrichment on stream ecosystems. Particular aspects of interest include 1) factors limiting nuisance growth in rooted aquatic plants vs. algae, 2) integrating experimental and field bioassessment information between factors such nutrients, flows, algae and plants
*Ecological risk assessment, in particular predicting risks, adverse effects, and safe concentrations of trace metals in freshwater ecosystems. Particular aspects of interest include 1) water quality criteria development; 2) expanding the use of predictive toxicity models, with a recent emphasis on the biotic ligand model (BLM) with cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc; 3) relating ecotoxicology testing to natural systems through population modeling or field studies
* Use of aquatic bioassessment or biomonitoring techniques to interpret changing environmental conditions.
Science and Products
Date published: March 23, 2020
Status: Active Idaho's Large River Ambient Monitoring Network
From 1989 to 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, monitored trends in water quality and biological integrity at more than 50 USGS streamgage stations on rivers throughout Idaho. In 2018, multiple State and Federal partners restarted a portion of the Large River Ambient Monitoring (LRAM) network.
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
Date published: March 16, 2020
Status: Active Kootenai River Water-Quality Monitoring Related to Transboundary Coal Mining
The Kootenai River (Kootenay in Canada) rises from the Canadian Rockies and flows south in an arc through Montana and Idaho before swinging back into British Columbia and the Columbia River. The uplifted sedimentary rocks forming the southern Canadian Rockies have rich coal deposits that have been mined for many decades. The coal beds and associated rock layers are enriched with other minerals...
Contacts: Christopher Mebane, Christian Schmidt
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
Date published: January 24, 2020
Status: Active Modeling the Hydraulic and Water-Quality Habitat Suitability for Macrophytes in the Middle Snake River, South-Central Idaho
Rooted aquatic plants (macrophytes) are essential components of freshwater ecosystems. Macrophyte beds provide shelter for fish and other aquatic life. Their leaves and stems also provide algae with surfaces to colonize, which, in turn, drives the aquatic food webs and dissolved oxygen cycles. However, too much of a good thing can create problems. When growth conditions are favorable,...
Contacts: Christopher Mebane
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
Date published: November 20, 2017
Status: Completed Macroinvertebrate Communities Evaluated Before and After a Channel Restoration Project in Silver Creek, Blaine County
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Blaine County and The Nature Conservancy, evaluated the status of macroinvertebrate1 communities prior to and following a channel restoration project in Silver Creek, Blaine County, Idaho. The objective of the evaluation was to determine whether 2014 remediation efforts to restore natural channel conditions in an impounded area of Silver Creek...
Contacts: Christopher Mebane
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
Date published: August 18, 2017
Status: Completed Monitoring Mercury in Fish Tissue, Boise and Snake Rivers and Brownlee Reservoir
To meet National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting requirements, the City of Boise will be responsible for collecting fish tissue samples for mercury analysis upstream of and downstream of their wastewater treatment facilities discharging to the lower Boise and Snake Rivers.
Mercury is a naturally occurring element that ultimately makes its way into aquatic...
Contacts: Christopher Mebane
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
Date published: August 8, 2017
Status: Completed Wood River Valley Aquatic Biology and Habitat Assessment
Blaine County’s population nearly quadrupled from about 5,700 to 22,000 people between 1970 and 2010. Residents and resource managers of the Wood River Valley of south-central Idaho are concerned about the potential effects that population growth and the expected increased demand for water might have on the quantity and quality of the valley’s ground and surface waters. Increased water use has...
Contacts: Christopher Mebane
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
Date published: August 4, 2017
Status: Completed Identifying Bull Trout Migration in the Upper Boise River Basin
In 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed the bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) as a threatened species. In 2010, the FWS designated critical habitat for the bull trout, including the upper Boise River basin. The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) operates three reservoirs on the upper Boise River for irrigation and flood control. Reclamation and FWS have a need to understand...
Contacts: Christopher Mebane
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
Date published: January 1, 2017
Status: Completed Effects of Nutrient Enrichment on Stream Ecosystems (Upper Snake River Basin NAWQA)
Nutrient enrichment can affect the ecological health of a stream. For example, excessive aquatic plant growth caused by increased nutrients can reduce dissolved oxygen necessary for other aquatic life. Topics of particular interest in this study area include:
seasonal patterns among nutrients, flows, algae and plants in streams
rooted aquatic plant vs. algae growth
stream...
Contacts: Christopher Mebane
Attribution: National Water Quality Program, Idaho Water Science Center
Date published: August 12, 2016
Status: Archived Potential Toxicity of Multiple Metals Associated with PGE Deposits
Water quality and aquatic life standards that are set by Federal and state regulatory agencies are used to evaluate the quality of our nation’s water and the health of aquatic ecosystems. These standards currently are based on hardness of the water and are determined for single metals, not for mixtures of metals that are typically found in natural systems. Metal mixtures can potentially be...
Contacts: Travis S Schmidt, Ph.D., Janet Miller
Date published: April 6, 2015
Status: Completed Panther Creek: Evaluating Recovery of a Mining-Damaged Stream Ecosystem
Historically, Idaho has been home to many productive underground and open-pit mining operations. These activities have also produced water quality problems in some areas. One such example is the Blackbird Mine in central Idaho. Following mining operations from the 1940s through the 1960s, Panther Creek and its tributaries were severely damaged by runoff from the Blackbird Mine. Water-quality...
Contacts: Christopher Mebane
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
Date published: January 1, 2014
Status: Completed Coeur d'Alene Lake Water Quality
The mining district in the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River valley was among the Nation’s largest producers of silver, lead, zinc, and other metals from the 1880s to the 1980s. These activities have produced large quantities of waste material that contain environmentally hazardous contaminants such as cadmium, lead, and zinc. Much of this material has been discharged directly to or washed into...
Contacts: Christopher Mebane
Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center
Year Published: 2021
Direct and delayed mortality of Ceriodaphnia dubia and rainbow trout following time-varying acute exposures to zinc
The potential for delayed mortality following short-term episodic pollution events was evaluated by exposing cladocerans (Ceriodaphnia dubia) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to zinc (Zn) in various 1- to 48-h and 1- to 96-h exposures, respectively, followed by transferring the exposed organisms to clean water for up to 47 h for C....
Mebane, Christopher A.; Ivey, Chris D.; Wang, Ning; Steevens, Jeffery; Cleveland, Danielle; Elias, Michael C; Justice, James R; Gallagher, Kathryn; Brent, Robert N.
Year Published: 2021
Nutrient limitation of algae and macrophytes in streams: Integrating laboratory bioassays, field experiments, and field data
Successful eutrophication control strategies need to address the limiting nutrient. We conducted a battery of laboratory and in situ nutrient-limitation tests with waters collected from 9 streams in an agricultural region of the upper Snake River basin, Idaho, USA. Laboratory tests used the green alga Raphidocelis subcapitata, the macrophyte...
Mebane, Christopher A.; Ray, Andrew M.; Marcarelli, Amy MAttribution: Idaho Water Science Center, Water Resources
Year Published: 2020
Time-dependent accumulation of Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, and Zn in mayfly and caddisfly larvae in experimental streams: Metal sensitivity, uptake pathways, and mixture toxicity
Conceptual and quantitative models were developed to assess time-dependent processes in four sequential experimental stream studies that determined abundances of natural communities of mayfly and caddisfly larvae dosed with single metals (Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Zn) or multiple metals (Cd+Zn, Co+Cu, Cu+Ni, Cu+Zn, Ni+Zn, Cd+Cu+Zn, Co+Cu+Ni, Cu+Ni+Zn)....
Balistrieri, Laurie S.; Mebane, Christopher A.; Schmidt, Travis S.
Year Published: 2020
Copper concentrations in the upper Columbia River as a limiting factor in White Sturgeon recruitment and recovery
Currently there is little natural recruitment of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Upper Columbia River located in British Columbia, Canada and Washington, USA. This review of life history, physiology, and behavior of white sturgeon, along with data from recent toxicological studies, suggest that trace metals, especially Cu, affect...
Puglis, Holly J.; Farag, Aida; Mebane, Christopher A.
Year Published: 2020
Metal bioavailability models: Current status, lessons learned, considerations for regulatory use, and the path forward
Since the early 2000s, biotic ligand models and related constructs have been a dominant paradigm for risk assessment of aqueous metals in the environment. We critically review 1) the evidence for the mechanistic approach underlying metal bioavailability models; 2) considerations for the use and refinement of bioavailability-based toxicity models;...
Mebane, Christopher A.; Chowdhury, M. Jasim; De Schamphelaere, Karel A.C.; Lofts, Stephen; Paquin, Paul R.; Santore, Robert C.; Wood, Chris M.Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center, Water Resources
Year Published: 2019
Adding invasive species bio-surveillance to the U.S. Geological Survey streamgage network
The costs of invasive species in the United States alone are estimated to exceed US$100 billion per year so a critical tactic in minimizing the costs of invasive species is the development of effective, early-detection systems. To this end, we evaluated the efficacy of adding environmental (e)DNA surveillance to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)...
Sepulveda, Adam J.; Schmidt, Christian; Amberg, Jon J.; Hutchins, Patrick R.; Stratton, Christian; Mebane, Christopher A.; Laramie, Matthew; Pilliod, David
Year Published: 2019
Scientific integrity issues in environmental toxicology and chemistry: Improving research transparency, reproducibility, and credibility
High‐profile reports of detrimental scientific practices leading to retractions in the scientific literature contribute to lack of trust in scientific experts. Although the bulk of these have been in the literature of other disciplines, environmental toxicology and chemistry are not free from problems. While we believe that egregious misconduct...
Mebane, Christopher A.; Anne Fairbrother; Thomas Augspurger; Timothy J. Canfield; William Goodfellow; Patrick Guiney; Anne LeHuray; Lorraine Maltby; David Mayfield; Michael McLaughlin; Lisa Ortego; Tamar Schlekat; Richard P. Scroggins; John Sumpter; Tim VerslyckeAttribution: Idaho Water Science Center, Water Resources
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Mebane, C.A., J.P. Sumpter, A. Fairbrother, T.P. Augspurger, T.J. Canfield, W.L. Goodfellow, P.D. Guiney, A. LeHuray, L. Maltby, D.B. Mayfield, M.J. McLaughlin, L. Ortego, T. Schlekat, R.P. Scroggins, and T.A. Verslycke. 2019. Scientific Integrity Issues in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: improving research reproducibility, credibility, and transparency. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 15(3): 320-344. https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4119
Year Published: 2018
Characterizing toxicity of metal‐contaminated sediments from the Upper Columbia River, Washington, USA, to benthic invertebrates
Sediments from the Upper Columbia River, Washington, USA, are contaminated with metals from smelting operations. We conducted short‐term and long‐term tests with the midge Chironomus dilutus and the amphipod Hyalella azteca and short‐term tests with the freshwater mussel Lampsilis siliquoidea with 54 sediments from...
Besser, John M.; Steevens, Jeffery; Kunz, James L.; Brumbaugh, William G.; Ingersoll, Christopher G.; Cox, Stephen E.; Mebane, Christopher A.; Balistrieri, Laurie S.; Sinclair, Jesse A.; MacDonald, Donald D.
Year Published: 2018
Understanding the captivity effect on invertebrate communities transplanted into an experimental stream laboratory
Little is known about how design and testing methodologies affect the macroinvertebrate communities that are held captive in mesocosms. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a 32‐d test to determine how seeded invertebrate communities changed once removed from the natural stream and introduced to the laboratory. We evaluated larvae survival...
Schmidt, Travis S.; Rogers, Holly; Miller, Janet L.; Mebane, Christopher A.; Balistrieri, Laurie S.Attribution: Biology and Ecosystems, Colorado Water Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Idaho Water Science Center, Water Resources, Ecosystems, Energy Resources Program, Mineral Resources Program, National Laboratories Program, Science and Decisions Center, Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin, United States of America
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Schmidt, T. S., Rogers, H. A., Miller, J. L., Mebane, C. A. and Balistrieri, L. S. (2018), Understanding the captivity effect on invertebrate communities transplanted into an experimental stream laboratory. Environ Toxicol Chem, 37: 2820-2834. doi:10.1002/etc.4237
Year Published: 2018
Mercury concentrations in water and mercury and selenium concentrations in fish from Brownlee Reservoir and selected sites in the Boise and Snake Rivers, Idaho and Oregon, 2013-17
Mercury (Hg) analyses were conducted on samples of water and sport fish collected from selected sampling sites in the Boise and Snake Rivers and Brownlee Reservoir, in Idaho and Oregon, to meet National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System permit requirements for the City of Boise, Idaho, from 2013 to 2017. City of Boise personnel collected...
MacCoy, Dorene E.; Mebane, Christopher A.Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center, Water Resources
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MacCoy, D.E., and Mebane, C.A., 2018, Mercury concentrations in water and mercury and selenium concentrations in fish from Brownlee Reservoir and selected sites in the Boise and Snake Rivers, Idaho and Oregon, 2013-17: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018-1122, 37 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181122.
Year Published: 2018
Potential toxicity of dissolved metal mixtures (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) to early life stage white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Upper Columbia River, Washington, United States
The Upper Columbia River (UCR) received historical releases of smelter waste resulting in elevated metal concentrations in downstream sediments. Newly hatched white sturgeon hide within the rocky substrate at the sediment–water interface in the UCR for a few weeks before swim-up. Hiding behavior could expose them to metal contaminants, and metal...
Balistrieri, Laurie S.; Mebane, Christopher A.; Cox, Stephen E.; Puglis, Holly J.; Calfee, Robin D.; Wang, Ning
Year Published: 2018
Spatial and temporal trends in selenium in the upper Blackfoot River watershed, southeastern Idaho, 2001–16
Phosphate mining in southeastern Idaho has been an important economic driver for the region and State for over 100 years, but weathering of mining waste rock has also released selenium into the Blackfoot River. This report analyzes and presents data from three separate but complementary studies monitoring selenium in streams in the region. The U.S...
Zinsser, Lauren M.; Mebane, Christopher A.; Mladenka, Greg C.; Van Every, Lynn R.; Williams, Marshall L.Attribution: Idaho Water Science Center, Water Resources
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Zinsser, L.M., Mebane, C.A., Mladenka, G.C., Van Every, L.R., and Williams, M.L., 2018, Spatial and temporal trends in selenium in the upper Blackfoot River watershed, southeastern Idaho, 2001–16: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5081, 37 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20185081.
Pre-USGS Publications
Essig, D. A., C. A. Mebane, and T. W. Hillman. 2003. Update of bull trout temperature requirements. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Boise, ID and BioAnalysts, Inc., Eagle, ID, Boise. 48.
Mebane, C.A. 1994. Preliminary Natural Resource Survey - Blackbird Mine, Lemhi County, Idaho. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hazardous Materials Assessment and Response Division, Seattle, WA. 130 pp.
Dillon, F. S. and C. A. Mebane. 2002. Development of site-specific water quality criteria for the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River, Idaho: application of site-specific water quality criteria developed in headwater reaches to downstream waters. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and Windward Environmental, Seattle, WA. 95 pp. Idaho. 44 pp.
Royer, T. V. and C. A. Mebane. 2002. River Macroinvertebrate Index. Pages 3-1 to 3-21 in C. S. Grafe, editor. Idaho River Ecological Assessment Framework: an Integrated Approach. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Boise.
Mebane, C. A. and D. L. Arthaud. 2010. Extrapolating growth reductions in fish to changes in population extinction risks: copper and Chinook salmon. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: 16(5):1026-1065
Mebane, C. A. 2001. Testing bioassessment metrics: macroinvertebrate, sculpin, and salmonid responses to stream habitat, sediment, and metals. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 67:292-322.
Maret, T. R. and C. A. Mebane. 2005. Historical and current perspectives on fish assemblages of the Snake River, Idaho and Wyoming. Pages 41-59
Mebane, C. A. 2002. Effects of metals on freshwater macroinvertebrates: a review and case study of the correspondence between a multimetric index, toxicity testing, and copper concentrations in sediment and water. Pages 281-306 in T. P. Simon, editor.
Janz, D.M., D.K. DeForest, M.L. Brooks, P.M. Chapman, G. Gilron, D. Hoff, W.A. Hopkins, D.O. McIntyre, C.A. Mebane, V.P. Palace, J.P. Skorupa, and M. Wayland. 2010. Selenium toxicity to aquatic organisms. Pages 139-230 in P. M. Chapman, W. J. Adams, M. L. Brooks, C. G. Delos, S. N. Luoma, W. A. Maher, H. M. Ohlendorf, T. S. Presser, and D. P. Shaw, editors.
Balistrieri, L.S. and C.A. Mebane. 2012
Poole, G. C., J. B. Dunham, M. P. Hicks, D. M. Keenan, J. C. Lockwood, E. J. Materna, D. A. McCullough, C. A. Mebane, J. C. Risley, S. T. Sauter, S. A. Spalding, and D. J. Sturdevant. 2001
Dunham, J. B., J. C. Lockwood, and C. A. Mebane. 2001
Date published: October 21, 2016
When the Whole is Less than the Sum of Its Parts
Environmental Ratios of Cadmium and Zinc are less Toxic to Aquatic Insects than Expected