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Biogeochemistry of trace elements including trace metals; Soil-plant relationships; Waste minimization and recycling; Soil remediation; Dynamics and bioavailability of contaminants from soil; Assisted natural attenuation of trace elements; Innovative soil amendments; Revegetation of degraded/contaminated sites I.
Lehr Brisbin, Jr. Current
Research Interests Travis
C. Glenn Research Interests J.
Whitfield Gibbons
Senior Research Ecologist Research
Interests Current Research Interests Research Interests I am interested in the ecological effects of low-level, chronic exposure to contaminants. I am particularly interested in quantifying how sublethal effects in individuals integrate across levels of biological organization to impact populations. Most of my work is concerned with fate and effects of radioactive contamination in the environment. Currently we are using replicated, outdoor mesocosms that house Japanese Rice Fish (Medaka) to study numerous environmental stressors. Specific Project for Summer 2004 We are interested in conducting an experiment this summer to see how inbred animals respond to the additional stress of environmental pollution. Endangered species sometimes encounter genetic bottlenecks due to inbreeding among a limited population size. Inbreeding can cause recessive, deleterious heterozygous traits within the parents to become dominant, homozygous, and expressed in the offspring. The student will use Medaka (Japanese Rice fish) as a model organism to study how inbred fish respond to the additional stress of low-level, chronic irradiation when compared to control fish. All irradiations will have been completed by the time the summer student begins the work. The student will neither be exposed to radiation nor will she/he work with any radioactive materials or radioactive fish. The summer student will be responsible for maintaining fish, collecting eggs, and raising eggs through the hatchling period. The student will collect data and statistically compare endpoints of interest among: 1) out-bred control fish, 2) out-bred control fish exposed to irradiation, 3) first generation inbred fish, 4) first generation inbred fish exposed to irradiation, 5) second generation inbred fish, and 6) second generation inbred fish exposed to irradiation. Endpoints of interest include the number of eggs produced, viability of eggs, and 10-day survivability of hatchlings. The results will contribute to our understanding the effects of low-level releases from nuclear facilities, and the potential synergistic effects of inbred animals exposed to additional environmental mutagens. J
Vaun McArthur
Senior Scientist Research Interests My research interests include: microbial evolutionary ecology with emphasis on factors controlling the distribution and abundance of aquatic bacteria and/or their genes. I am particularly interested in determining what controls variation spatially and temporally and whether these patterns are random noise patterns or the results of selection. I am using antibiotic resistance as a model system to test ideas of environmental direct or indirect selection acting on bacterial populations. Current Research Interests My current research interests are on elucidating the relationship(s) between heavy metal challenge and the incidence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. I hope to show not only the relationship but determine the evolutionary mechanisms involved in the process. Kenneth
W. McLeod
Associate Research Ecologist Research Interests As a plant ecophysiologist, I am interested in the unique mechanisms that allow plant species to inhabit marginal habitats and which have contributed to their individual distribution patterns, from large-scale continental patterns to patterns of individual trees in a forest. The elucidation of these mechanisms has been a fascination to me. While these unique characteristics help explain patterns in nature, they may also be useful in solving environmental problems caused by humans. For example, species that can naturally tolerate saline environments may be very useful in rehabilitation of anthropogenic disturbed habitats that have been contaminated with various salts. Gary
L. Mills
Associate Research Ecologist Research Interests Environmental Organic Chemistry; applications of gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry (LC-MS) in biogeochemistry and environmental chemistry. Current Research Interests Natural attenuation of organic contaminants; biogeochemistry of polychlorinated biphenyls and petroleum hydrocarbons; toxicological effects of Se incorporation into metallothionein-like proteins; in-situ redox manipulation of aquifer sediments for remediation chlorinated hydrocarbon contaminants in groundwater. Lee
A. Newman
Assistant Research Scientist
Christopher
S. Romanek
Associate Professor/Associate Research Ecologist Research Interests Stable isotopes as natural tracers of biogeochemical and hydrological processes, historical records of contaminant migration, ecosystem trophic structure and food web dynamics, petrogenesis of low temperature mineral deposits, analytical instrumentation. John
C. Seaman
Associate Research Professor Research Interests Research interests include the development and testing of in situ remediation techniques, the land application/disposal of industrial and agricultural by-products and waste materials, multicomponent solute transport modeling, solute transport within the vadose (unsaturated) zone, the physical and chemical characterization of complex mineral assemblages, and the physicochemical factors controlling heavy metal and radionuclide adsorption/migration. Rebecca
R. Sharitz
Senior Research Ecologist Research Interests Responses of wetland plant communities to environmental disturbance; dynamics of nutrient and contaminant movement in Coastal Plain watersheds; restoration of wetland ecosystems; conservation and resource management Current Research Projects Assessing thresholds of disturbance in southeastern ecosystems, and the effects of forest management practices and military training activities on plant community structure; ecological restoration of Carolina bay depression wetlands; plant uptake of organic nitrogen; floodplain forest dynamics and recovery from disturbance Chuanlun
Zhang Dr. Zhang's research interests are in geomicrobiology and environmental microbiology using an integrated approach of molecular microbiology, microbial lipid biomarkers and stable isotopes, microbial isolation and culturing, and mineralogical tools. This approach is to achieve two grand goals: 1. Geomicrobiology of modern extreme environments: Insight for geological and microbial co-evolution on early Earth and other planets. In other words, Zhang is studying extreme life forms in "wrong places." 2. Microbial diversity and functions at the Savannah River Site: Toward a better understanding for environmental restoration. This goal is to accomplish missions of the Department of Energy and the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory for restoring contaminated environments at the Savannah River Site, and to contribute to the overall understanding of microbial processes for effective bioremediation. In other words we look for novel bugs that can help clean up the contaminated environments. Zhang's teaching goal is to educate and mentor graduate, undergraduate, and postdocs for excellence in academic performance and scientific achievement through quality research and development of interdisciplinary skills. Special undergraduate projects: 1. The beauty of microbial mats: what are they and what can they do? 2. The diversity of bacterial species at Savannah River Site. Which bugs are helping us clean the environments? These two projects will use modern molecular techniques to isolate and identify microorganisms living in different environments and to determine their ecological functions in cleaning organic or metal contaminants at the Savannah River Site. |
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