HIGHLIGHTS OF PAST YEAR'S 

 PROGRAM 



As in most large scientific programs, IDOE projects in the past year were 

 at various stages of their life cycles. New projects have begun, others have 

 drawn to a close, and still others have started to report findings of both 

 scientific and social significance. 



The Environmental Quality Program's newest project, Pollutant Responses 

 in Marine Animals (PRIMA), tackles the complex problem of identifying 

 biological indicators that can be used to assess the health of the marine 

 environment. Both scientists and policymakers are acutely aware that many 

 potentially toxic compounds exist in the air, sea, and land. Yet, valid diag- 

 nostic and predictive tools to pinpoint the effects of these poisons on indi- 

 viduals or communities of organisms do not now exist. 



PRIMA scientists will focus on the specific chemical and physical changes 

 in marine organisms caused by polycyclic hydrocarbons and kindred halo- 

 genated compounds. To start, the scientists will standardize their experi- 

 mental and analytical techniques, establish chemical and biological base- 

 line values, and design the right dosage and exposure conditions. Once 

 these preliminary efforts are completed, the scientists will conduct experi- 

 ments aimed at isolating the effects of the pollutants on specific functions 

 of a variety of organisms. Finally, field studies involving all the investigators 

 will be conducted at a common site. Results from these studies should 

 identify biological indicators and provide early warning about the existence 

 of pollutant stress. Early warning should enable corrective actions before 

 serious damage is done to marine populations. 



Airborne materials are second in importance only to rivers for altering 

 the chemistry of the oceans. A second Environmental Quality project, Sea- 

 Air Exchange (SEAREX), has begun to report findings on the way chemicals 

 reach the oceans through the air. SEAREX scientists are taking detailed 

 measurements of airborne chemicals from remote island stations in the 

 Pacific Ocean on Eniwetok and American Samoa. Both sites are sufficiently 

 isolated from heavy industrial activity so that it will be possible to establish 

 baseline levels that later can be used to assess the nature of atmospheric 

 pollution. • 



Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and other 

 collaborators made an unexpected find during a diving expedition on the 

 Galapagos Rift in the Pacific in March 1978. They found animal communi- 

 ties made up of fields of dandelionlike organisms (possibly soft coral or 

 crinoids), clams up to 4 cm across, and about 10 other species clustered 

 around hot water vents and apparently thriving 2,500 to 2,700 meters below 

 the ocean's surface. It is suggested that the explanation for the abundant 

 life observed near underwater springs at the site is only marginally related 

 to the increased temperature, but rather lies in a well-known microbiological 

 phenomenon that occurs wherever the water has a high h\ ,ogen sulfide 

 content. Although this phenomenon is well known in sha r n water, this is 

 the first known occurrence in the deep sea. At the G° pagos vents, the 

 source of energy for the growth of organisms apparently emerges from 

 the submarine springs in the form of hydrogen sulfide. This inorganic sulfur 

 compound can be used by a certain group of bacteria as a source of energy 

 used to turn carbon dioxide into organic carbon. The growth of sulfide- 

 oxidizing bacteria produces the ideal food for filtering organisms, which 

 may include large clams or smaller organisms on which clams feed. 



Scientists in the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (GEOSECS) have 

 completed the final field work with a 4 1 /2 -month voyage to the Indian Ocean. 



VIII 



