A. Center/Institute/Program
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory,
P.O. Drawer E
Aiken, SC 29802
Phone: 803-725-2472
Fax: 803-725-3309
E-mail: steadman@srel.edu
Web Page: http://www.uga.edu/srel/
Director/Chairperson:
Dr. Paul M. Bertsch
Representative to AERC:
Dr. Rebecca Sharitz
B. Major objectives of the
Center/Institute/Program
1. Developing an understanding of the processes that control
distributions of contaminants, chemical forms, and their bioavailability in the
environment.
2. Estimating risks and effects of contaminants in the
environment to determine the need for remediation and restoration efforts.
3. Conducting multidisciplinary research designed
to assist in the development, evaluation, and stakeholder acceptance of
remediation and restoration efforts that protect human and ecosystem health.
4. Conducting
environmental outreach programs to increase the general publics awareness and
understanding of environmental issues, especially those affecting the Savannah River
Site; hosting undergraduate and graduate education programs that offer students
an opportunity to conduct research on the SRS.
C. Major ecosystem research emphases
1. Determining the biogeochemical
processes that control chemical speciation and mobility of contaminants in the
environment.
2. Assessing the efficacy of using
sentinel species to characterize environmental health.
3. Determining how the form of a
contaminant influences dose-response and toxicity relationships.
4. Determining the potential effects and
interactions from exposure to mixed contaminants.
5. Defining the risks from low dose-rate,
chronic exposures to radiation.
6. Identifying the traits of native
species and populations that best determine their suitability for use in remediation
and restoration.
7. Determining the primary mechanisms by
which natural attenuation and engineered remediation processes immobilize
contaminants, and identifing the appropriate geochemical and biological
endpoints to assess sustainability.
8. Developing the use of long-term
ecological databases to detect environmental change that results from
anthropogenic sources.
D. Staff
Permanent
scientific staff: PhD: 16; Emeritus
Professors: 4
Scientific
support staff: Postdocs and other PhD
scientific staff: 9, Technicians: 31
Environmental
Outreach: 2
Other
support staff: 25
Graduate
students: PhD: 14, MS:
5
Summer
undergraduates: 18
E. Approximate annual funding (recent year)
Core
funding: $4.5 M; DOE
Grants: $1.7 M, Major sources: DOE, DOD, EPA, NOAA
F. Areas and facilities for ecosystem research
studies
1.
G. Research staff directly involved in ecosystem
research (names and specialty areas)
Adriano, Domy biogeochemistry of
trace metals in the soil-plant system
Bertsch, Paul M. molecular
environmental science
Brisbin, I. Lehr, Jr. vertebrate
ecology, radioecology, ecotoxicology, and animal behavior, particularly that
related to canine olfaction
Collins,
Gibbons, J. Whitfield herpetology
and ecology
Glenn, Travis development and
application of molecular genetics tools to problems in conservation biology,
genotoxicology, population genetics, and natural resource management
Hinton, Thomas environmental
transport of contaminants with the goal of being able to make better
predictions of their long-term fate
Jagoe, Charles environmental
sciences, ecology, and toxicology
McArthur, J Vaun aquatic microbial
ecology; ecological genetics of microbes; interactions between terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems; stream community metabolism; and macroinvertebrate ecology
McLeod, Kenneth the unique
mechanisms that allow plant species to inhabit marginal habitats and which
contributes to their individual distribution patterns, from large-scale
continental patterns to patterns of individual trees in a forest
Mills,
Neal, Andrew metal and sulfur
metabolism in extreme environments; bioremediation of heavy metals and
radionuclides by sub-surface bacteria; and biosignatures produced by metal
metabolizing bacteria in low temperature sedimentary rocks
Newman, Lee plant biology and
phytoremediation
Romanek, Christopher low-temperature
and aqueous geochemistry with emphasis on the stable isotope systematics of
elements that play key roles in biogeochemical processes
Seaman, John C. the land
application of animal waste and coal combustion by-products; solute and
contaminant transport modeling; reclamation of Cr(VI) contaminated aquifers and
soils; in situ contaminant immobilization; and the physicochemical factors
controlling heavy metal and radionuclide adsorption/migration, including
colloid-facilitated transport of contaminants in soil and groundwater
Sharitz, Rebecca R. ecological
processes in wetlands, including factors affecting the structure and function
of bottomland hardwood and swamp forest ecosystems, responses of wetland
communities to environmental disturbances, and effects of land management
practices on nearby wetland systems
Taylor, Barbara E. freshwater
ecology and population ecology
Unrine, Jason development and
application of hyphenated analytical techniques using ICP-MS to problems in
toxicology, biochemistry, and environmental chemistry of trace-elements
Zhang, Chuanlun geomicrobiology
and environmental microbiology
H. Long-term data sets (code name, number of
years of data, computer accessibility)
Savannah
River Ecology Laboratory databases, 1951-present: ecosystem inventories; population
biology and reproductive data for herpetofauna, white-tailed deer and wood
ducks; wetlands ecology; ecology of bottomland hardwoods; responses of seasonal
wetlands to climatic variation; macro- and micro-invertebrate ecology;
microbial ecology; mercury exposure and bioaccumulation in native species.