On August 5, 2015, efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to drain ponded water from the abandoned Gold King Mine released ~11 million liters of contaminated water into a tributary of the Animas River in Colorado. Being downstream from Colorado, people in New Mexico were concerned. While contaminant levels are reported to be safe in the Animas, concerns remain that measuring dissolved contaminants in water is not the best metric to judge ecosystem health. Contaminants that have bound to organic material and settled in sediment could be re-mobilized following rain events or after spring snowmelt.
With Dr. Daniel Cadol (Hydrologist, NM Tech), we are attempting to resolve the importance of biota in contaminant element cycling, by quantifying contaminant metals (Zn, Cd, Pb) as well as C and N isotopes to determine what (if any) transfer of metals occurs through trophic interactions. This may seem to be a departure from my other research, but is actually a return to a long-standing interest in heavy metal uptake by plants, and cycling through soils (Duval et al. 2011 Env. Sci. Tech.)
Dan and I sampled inverts, riparian plants and soil, river sediment and water in March 2017. We will return to northern NM following NM Game and Fish efforts to catch fish for metal and isotope analysis. We are currently in the "methods evaluation" stage of the project, determining the most suitable means of digesting aquatic invertebrates. Here is a poster Dan presented with a re-working of some NMGF data they compiled from efforts prior to our involvement, as well as conceptual models of our expected results.
With Dr. Daniel Cadol (Hydrologist, NM Tech), we are attempting to resolve the importance of biota in contaminant element cycling, by quantifying contaminant metals (Zn, Cd, Pb) as well as C and N isotopes to determine what (if any) transfer of metals occurs through trophic interactions. This may seem to be a departure from my other research, but is actually a return to a long-standing interest in heavy metal uptake by plants, and cycling through soils (Duval et al. 2011 Env. Sci. Tech.)
Dan and I sampled inverts, riparian plants and soil, river sediment and water in March 2017. We will return to northern NM following NM Game and Fish efforts to catch fish for metal and isotope analysis. We are currently in the "methods evaluation" stage of the project, determining the most suitable means of digesting aquatic invertebrates. Here is a poster Dan presented with a re-working of some NMGF data they compiled from efforts prior to our involvement, as well as conceptual models of our expected results.
