Laboratory Information:
Columbia Environmental Research Center
4200 New Haven Road
Columbia, MO 65201
Website: http://www.cerc.usgs.gov/
Agency/Department: Dept. of Interior
Region: Mid-Continent
FLC Laboratory Representative:
Dr. Michael Mac
Phone: (573) 876-1900
Fax: (573) 876-1855
Email: michael_mac@usgs.gov
Background/History of the Laboratory:
Over its forty-year history, the Columbia
Environmental Research Center (CERC) addressed contaminant
research in support of sound natural resource management of the nation's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
As the Center grows and matures, the scope of its research programs broadened to an integrated approach
for
even more complex resource problems. These complexities encompass several factors associated with the
biological significance of degraded water quality that often includes physical landscape alterations,
invasive
species, and ecosystem restoration activities. Today CERC conducts research in support of the Department
of
the Interior agencies, but also works with other federal governmental agencies, state, tribal, private,
and non-
governmental organizations, both national and international, to meet common needs and goals. CERC is
one
of the science centers in the U.S. Geological Survey. Historically, this Center was established in 1959
at the
Denver Wildlife Research Center of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was called the Fish Pesticide
Research Laboratory (FPRL). In 1966, the University of Missouri deeded 33 acres to the Fish and Wildlife
Service and the FPRL moved to its present location. The partnership initiated between the University
and the
Laboratory in 1966 remains strong today through a number of cooperative research programs. In 1996,
the
Center was incorporated into Biological Resources of the U.S. Geological Survey. The name of the Laboratory
was changed to the Columbia Environmental Research Center in 1998. In addition to the main facility
in
Columbia, MO, CERC administers field research stations located across the nation.
Mission of the Laboratory:
The Columbia Environmental Research Center
provides leadership and scientific information for the U.S.
Geological Survey by addressing national and international environmental contaminant issues, and assessing
effects of habitat alterations on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This includes large-river floodplains,
coastal
habitats, wetlands, and lakes.
Technology Areas of Expertise:
- Information Technology
- Ecology
- Toxicology
- River-Corridor Habitat Dynamics Research, Lower Missouri River
- Site assessments
- Statistical elucidation of contaminant biomagnification potential and pathways
- Status and trends, environmental ecology, and reproductive biology of Neosho Madtom (Noturus placidus).
- The physical, chemical, and biological factors affecting these processes
- The role of thiaminase activity in Great Lake forage fish in generating low thiamine in lake trout
- Toxicity Identification and Evaluation
- Traditional and contemporary data distribution and management systems
- Urban Stream Biological Assessment Studies
- Using GIS/hydrology to predict potential atrazine runoff in Missouri streams
- Vascular toxicity as the critical mode of action of dioxin in embryos
- Visualization of Flow Alternatives, Lower Missouri River
- Relationships between laboratory responses and characteristics of contaminated aquatic ecosystems
- Reproductive developmental effects in medaka
- River Studies
- Waterfowl and avian ecology
- Wildlife ecology
- Environmental Chemistry
- Acid Mine Drainage Impact on Streams
- Acute and chronic chemical neurotoxicity in laboratory and field collected samples
- Agricultural irrigation drainwater assessment
- AH-h activity in estuarine sediments
- Assessing Reproductive Effects in Wildlife
- Assessment of acid/metals effects in native western fishes
- Assessment of cyanobacterial toxins (hepatotoxins) and water quality characteristics in lakes and reservoirs
- Assessment of endangered, native, and invasive fish species
- Assessment of factors responsible for amphibian deformities
- Atmospheric sampling along the Rio Grande
- Bald eagle declines along the Columbia River, Hood Canal, and in the Great Lakes
- Behavioral indices of neurotoxicity in aquatic organisms
- BEST: EROD and H4IIE biomarker analysis and synthesis document generation
- Bioaccumulation and toxicity of contaminants from water, sediment, and food
- Bioavailability of metals
- Bioavailability of metals in sediment
- Biochemistry and Physiology
- Biological consequences of UV radiation from ozone depletion on aquatic organisms
- Biological effects of low-level exposure
- Biomagnification in peregrine falcons, tree swallows, and piscivorous birds
- Characterization and development of alarm and attractant pheromones to control invasive bighead and silver carp
- Chemical Modeling
- Chemical Transport and Fate
- Community Ecology
- Comparison of Black Carp and Grass Carp for Identification Purposes
- Contaminant - Endocrine Interactions
- Contaminant impacts on agricultural-return ground waters
- Culture of aquatic organisms
- Custom Analytical Chemistry for Methods and Field Applications
- Development and application of methods for rapid chemical analysis based on immunochemicals
- Development of a model fish assay the effects of chemicals on gonadal development and sexual differentiation
- Ecological risk assessment of the non-target effects of herbicides in wetlands
- Ecotoxicology of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians
- EDC from pulp and paper mill effluents
- Effects of contaminants on the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog
- Effects of environmental perturbations on the aquatic community of the San Juan River
- Effects of fire chemicals in aquatic environments
- Effects of ultraviolet radiation on the boreal toad and other boreal amphibians
- Effects of UV radiation on metalocyanides related to gold mining processes
- Endocrine disrupting chemicals
- Establishing Contaminant-Effect Linkage
- Exotic Species in the Missouri River
- Explosives at Los Alamos Laboratory
- Field Station Research
- Fish reproductive health assessment in PCB contaminated regions of the Housatonic River, Massachusetts
- Food web dynamics
- Identification of potential contaminants
- In vitro and in vivo assays directed fractionation of complex mixtures
- In vitro assays for assessing cyanobacterial neurotoxins
- Individually-based, spatially-explicit modeling of fish populations.
- Information exchange
- Information retrieval
- Inorganic Contaminant Assessment
- Interactive effects of low thiamine (vitamin B1) and dioxin-like chemicals on lake trout recruitment in the Great Lakes
- Interdisciplinary science
- Isotopic fingerprinting of sources and pathways
- Large-scale concentration of contaminants from biota and SPMD extracts for in vitro and in vivo assays
- Limnology and benthic ecology
- Marine ecotoxicology and sediment toxicology
- Mercury and methylmercury impacts (A National Pilot Study of Mercury Contamination of Aquatic Ecosystems along Multiple Gradients: Bioaccumulation in Fishes November 2000)
- Microassays to assess toxicity of environmental chemicals from sediments, semi-permeable membrane devices and oil spills
- Missouri Environmental Assessment
- Missouri River Benthic Macroinvertebrates
- Monitoring biological recovery following acid mine drainage reclamation of the Tebo Creek watershed
- Multimedia presentations
- Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration of mine tailings of the Clark Fork River
- Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program (NRDAR) procedures
- New York Harbor and Newark estuarine sediments
- nvertebrate and vertebrate toxicology
- Organic Contaminant Assessment
- Otter and mink along the Columbia River and Great Lakes
- Ozarks Stream Geomorphology Project
- Pallid Sturgeon
- Passive sampling in large river basins
- Photo-enhanced toxicity of aquatic contaminants
- Physiological measurements of UVB exposed aquatic species
- Plant ecology issues
- Population Ecology
- Pulp and paper mill effluents: chemical characterization and toxicity assessment
