Ecotoxicology

Many California coastal environments have been compromised by runoff from human sources, such as industrialized and developed shorelines, ports and marinas, in regions around wastewater treatment plant outfalls and non-point outfall pipes along the coast. Potential hazards to public and ecosystem health from pollutants and contaminants of emerging concern continue to be difficult to manage and present a wide range of unknown problems for both ecosystems and public health. Sea Grant funded researchers have documented and understand how anthropogenic chemicals in the marine environment can cause endocrine and physiological disruption in marine organisms, such as changes to reproductive and metabolic characteristics and changes in growth. Changes like these have a strong potential to threaten survival in a variety of different species residing in coastal California including flatfish, surfperch and sculpin. Other research works on developing powerful diagnostic tools that will enhance assessment and understanding of the effects of contaminant inside marine organisms.

Research & Outreach Projects

• Population Differences in Toxicant Sensitivity in the Tidepool Copepod Tigriopus Californicus: Genetic Vs. Environmental Factors (Edmands)

• Proteomics To Develop Relevant Phenotypic Biomarkers Of Environmental Impacts In Wild Marine Fishes Of Southern California (Kelley, Mason)

• The Copper Problem in California Marinas (Moffett)

• Environmental Endocrine Disruption in Urban Ocean Fish Mechanisms, Causes, Wider Impacts (Kelley)

• Quantifying contaminants of emerging concern in urban watersheds using bivalves and passive samplers (Maruya, Adams)

• Maternal offloading of accumulated organochlorine contaminants in the round stingray (Lowe)

• Mussel Monitoring for the New Millennium (Gracey, Moffett)

• Documentation of Human-Derived Sex Steroid Hormones in Southern California Bight Flatfish (Kelley, Dalkey, Armstrong)

• Impact Of Anthropogenic Ammonium On Primary Production In Estuarine And Coastal Ecosystems (Dugdale, Wilkerson)

For more information, contact Phyllis Grifman, Associate Director, 213.740.193.