Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with The Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU)

The US Geological Survey (USGS) Western Fisheries Research Center in partnership with US Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU Partner for research to provide a better understanding of the bioavailability and tissue distribution in salmon of organic chemicals in found in stormwater runoff including N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD-quinone). This research will help characterize the toxicological mechanisms related to impacts of stormwater runoff on salmon health in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). Research studies would include the implementation of high-resolution mass spectroscopy techniques to quantitate the potential bioaccumulation and related tissue burden of organic pollutants in salmon tissues. This includes the improvement of analytical method sensitivity and reproducibility for 6PPD-quinone and similarly structured tire derived contaminants. A related task would include the characterization and update of tire derived contaminants that are leached from ingested tire wear particles found in streams and creeks due to stormwater runoff as well as assessing the stability of tire derived transformation products. This research will inform researchers and managers about the relative distribution, fate and toxicity of these compounds and related metabolic transformation pathway products for assessing species-specific sensitivities in salmon.