Ecological sentinels of aquatic contamination in the lower Mississippi River system

This project has three major subsections; reports on the progress are detailed in the article. Community and Trophic Responses of fishes to aquatic contamination looks at the fate of environmental contaminants in fish from a lateral floodplain swamp in the lower Mississippi River system and at the ecological risks contaminants pose for fish and other aquatic organisms. Contaminants include cadmium, mercury, nickel, chromium, HCB and HCBC. The second section looks at tree cores of baldcypress as biomarkers of present and past pollution events by heavy metals. The third section evaluates the effects of environmental contamination on colonial wading birds and the usefulness of these birds as indicators of environmental contamination. 3 refs.