The Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) provides leadership and scientific information for the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) by addressing national and international environmental contaminant issues and assessing the effects of habitat alterations on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, including large-river floodplains, coastal habitats, wetlands, and lakes.
Located in Columbia, Mo., CERC is one of 18 biology science centers in the USGS. The Center provides broad expertise in toxicology, ecology, biology, microbiology, organic chemistry, hydrology, and remote sensing. These technological and scientific skills are contained within four broad focus areas: environmental toxicology and chemistry, ecological research, large river ecology and information technology.
Cooperating with federal and state agencies, academia, industry, native tribes, and nongovernmental and scientific organizations has brought CERC to the forefront in addressing current and emerging natural resource issues, both nationally and internationally.
Over its 42-year history, CERC has addressed contaminant research in support of sound natural resource management of the nation's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. CERC has a unique capability for conducting both focused and large-scale multidisciplinary studies of contaminated environments. The Center views contamination problems in the context of multiple environmental stressors to understand how contaminants move through the natural environment. CERC also identifies potentially sensitive environments, and assesses the effectiveness of remedial activities, emphasizing projects that integrate scientific disciplines on larger geographic areas.
Researchers at CERC conduct small- and large-scale studies on national and international environmental contamination. CERC's multidisciplinary scientists collaborate to discover how pollutants move through the environment, identify potentially vulnerable environments, and evaluate the effectiveness of remedial activities. Scientists also assess how habitat alterations affect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, such as lakes, large river flood plains, coastal habitats, and wetlands. For an integrated approach to complex resource problems, research projects are staffed with team members from seven science branches.
CERC is located on a 33-acre site southeast of Columbia, in a climate conducive to year-round outdoor studies. The heart of CERC is a 26,000-square-foot building with a central wet laboratory, augmented by specialized research buildings. Two 1,100-foot- deep wells provide an uncontaminated water source suitable for maintaining invertebrates and both cold and warm water fishes. The water supply facilities can formulate test waters that simulate a wide range of environmental conditions, from acid-sensitive lakes and streams to saline estuaries.
CERC is the only USGS laboratory capable of conducting research on highly toxic compounds, such as dioxin. The CERC facility also houses an effluent treatment system.
Small ponds, for investigating the intricate relationships among organisms in freshwater habitats, and constructed streams, for studying plant and animal communities in flowing waters, augment CERC's facilities.
CERC also uses mobile research laboratories to evaluate onsite contaminants. CERC researchers conduct specialized toxicological and ecological studies in Field Research Stations throughout the central United States.
The 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. USGS absorbed the Center in 1996. In 1998, the laboratory was re-christened the Columbia Environmental Research Center.
As CERC matures, its research programs have broadened in scope to an integrated approach for even more complex resource problems. These complexities encompass factors associated with the biological significance of degraded water quality that often include physical landscape alterations, invasive species, and ecosystem restoration activities.
More info: www.cerc.usgs.gov
