Effect of Louisiana sweet crude oil on a Pacific coral, Pocillopora damicornis.

Recent oil spill responses such as the Deepwater Horizon event have underscored the need for crude oil ecotoxicological threshold data for shallow water corals to assist in natural resource damage assessments. We determined the toxicity of a mechanically agitated oil-seawater mixture (high-energy water-accommodated fraction, HEWAF) of a sweet crude oil on a branched stony coral, Pocillopora damicornis. We report the results of two experiments: a 96 h static renewal exposure experiment and a "pulse-chase" experiment of three short-term exposure durations followed by a recovery period in artificial seawater.

Comparison of methods for the detection of coliphages in recreational water at two California, United States beaches.

Methods for detection of two fecal indicator viruses, F+ and somatic coliphages, were evaluated for application to recreational marine water. Marine water samples were collected during the summer of 2007 in Southern California, United States from transects along Avalon Beach (n=186 samples) and Doheny Beach (n=101 samples). Coliphage detection methods included EPA method 1601 - two-step enrichment (ENR), EPA method 1602 - single agar layer (SAL), and variations of ENR.

Improved detection and quantitation of norovirus from water.

Norovirus is associated commonly with human sewage and is responsible for numerous cases of waterborne and foodborne gastroenteritis every year. Assays using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) have been developed for norovirus, however, accurate detection and quantitation remain problematic owing to a lack of suitable positive controls. To improve enumeration of norovirus genomes from water, a synthetic norovirus genogroup II quantitation standard and competitive internal positive control were developed.

Spatial and temporal variability of ribotyping results at a small watershed in South Carolina.

The utility of library-based ribotyping methods for a very small study area was evaluated through comparison of local results to libraries with differing spatial and temporal scales. Ribotyping of Escherichia coli isolates was used to evaluate sources of fecal pollution at a coastal golf course in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Thirty-five E.

Assessment of environmental impacts of a colony of free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macca mulatta) on Morgan Island, South Carolina.

Morgan Island, located within the ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve in South Carolina, is home to the only free-ranging colony of rhesus monkeys (Macca mulatta) in the continental United States. The purpose of this study was to assess environmental impacts of the monkey colony on water quality in adjacent tidal creeks and on island vegetation. Three tidal creeks were sampled: Morgan Creek, adjacent to the monkey colony; Back Creek, on Morgan Island not adjacent to the colony; and Rock Creek, on a nearby island unoccupied by monkeys.