We design, implement, conduct and manage a wide range of laboratory and field-based bioassays, investigations and other tests to fill key data gaps and increase our understanding of the adverse effects of chemicals, mixtures, and other stressors on numerous organisms, including bacteria, algae, invertebrates, fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

We utilize our in-house expertise, as well as our strategic collaborations and partnerships with universities, private, federal, and state laboratories, to determine the toxicity of a wide range of contaminants under varying conditions while applying state-of-the-art toxicity metrics. We offer a holistic approach to assessing toxicity that includes a range of endpoints, including standard, molecular, physiological, and behavioral metrics aimed at interpreting how contaminants and other stressors adversely affect plants and animals in the environment.

Projects
Copper Toxicity to Salmon in the Bristol Bay Watershed, AK

Bristol Bay supports the largest commercial sockeye salmon fishery in the world, and also an important subsistence fishery for native communities. We designed and conducted bioassays using two model fish species (rainbow trout and fathead minnows) in close collaboration with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, using site water from the watershed and reconstituted laboratory water with similar properties to conduct a series of tests to evaluate the soundness of existing and alternative water quality criteria (hardness-criteria and Biotic Ligand Model derived criteria). As a follow-on study, we collaborated with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and conducted additional acute copper bioassays on sockeye, Chinook, and coho salmon fry using water collected from the field. We also conducted behavioral assays to investigate olfactory inhibition with copper exposure on rainbow trout, sockeye and coho salmon. Our research demonstrates that current copper criteria standards used by the state of Alaska (and other states) may not be sufficient to protect salmon in the Bristol Bay watershed.

Sockeye salmon preparing to spawn in the Bristol Bay Watershed, AK.

Metals Toxicity in Aquatic Environments

BRI has more than 25 years’ experience investigating the toxicity of metals to fish, aquatic invertebrates, birds and other wildlife. This work includes identifying the fate and transport of metals in impacted environments and biogeochemical influences on metal concentrations and diel metal cycling in aquatic environments. Our research also includes laboratory and field assays designed to determine the fate and transport as well as the waterborne and dietary toxicity and associated modes of action of several metals and metalloids associated with mining activities including arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel and zinc. Additionally, we have conducted associated research on the influence of water quality (e.g., anions, cations, alkalinity, pH, and organic carbon) on metal toxicity and evaluated various regulatory guidelines and approaches to assessing toxicity under a range of environmental and chemical conditions.

PFAS Uptake and Trophic Transfer Modeling

BRI NRDA staff have conducted extensive field work collecting soil, water, sediment, invertebrate, fish, bird and mammal samples and conducted laboratory studies to investigate PFAS uptake into the food web and subsequent biomagnification. This work has focused on PFOA, PFOS and GenX and included uptake into coniferous and deciduous trees, several freshwater fish and invertebrates, white-tailed deer and loons.

PCB Toxicity to Zebrafish

BRI staff led a collaborative effort to determine several adverse effects to zebrafish exposed to PCBs (primarily Aroclor 1254) as embryos. Our team included researchers from NOAA, University of North Texas, University of California Riverside, USGS, and Oregon State University. This research applied a wide range of comprehensive toxicological strategies that included: high-throughput screening; RNA-sequencing; early life stage developmental, cardiac and neurological assessments; and grow-out, reproduction and behavioral assays. Another novel aspect of this research included determining embryonic PCB tissue burdens that correlate to a range of toxicological endpoints.

Sediment Bioassays with Pacific Lamprey Ammocoetes, Portland Harbor, OR

BRI staff supported Trustees as part of the injury assessment for the Portland Harbor Natural Resource Damage Assessment. BRI staff designed, implemented and managed a suite of sediment bioassays on Pacific lampreys, in close collaboration with Oregon State University, the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This work included collecting contaminated and reference sediment from the Willamette River, which was used to conduct a series of bioassays examining the effects of various contaminant mixtures on ammocoete survival, growth and behavior. This program also included detailed methods development for conducting work with this unique species/life stage.

Collecting sediments from Portland Harbor for use in lamprey ammocoete bioassays.