marine environment. Particular attention is 

 given to the concentration and dispersion of 

 pollutants al the air-sea interface, injection of 

 pollutants through estuaries to continental 

 shelf waters, pollutant emplacement in sedi- 

 ments and the chemical forms of each pol- 

 lutant. 



Chemical Studies 



These studies involve investigation of the 

 alteration of the physical and chemical prop- 

 erties of pollutants. The studies are carried 

 out as integral parts of research projects con- 

 cerning the dispersion of pollutants in the 

 marine environment and the uptake of pol- 

 lutants by organisms. Chemical problems 

 being considered are: (1) the form of heavy 

 metals (organic complex, adsorbed, detrital); 

 (2) the types of PCB [several types have been 

 released into the environment]; (3) the nature 

 of the equilibrium betv^^een pollutants in water 

 and in the lipid fraction of organisms; (4) the 

 weathering of tar balls and resulting changes 

 in their chemical compositions; and (5) the 

 changing chemical nature of pollutants as they 

 enter different aquatic environments. 



Table 1 



POLLUTANT TRANSFER PROCESS 



RESEARCH PROGRAM 



Material Heavy Halogenated Petro- 

 metals hydrocarbons leum 



Biological Studies 



The biological research programs are de- 

 signed to quantify the mechanisms of pol- 

 lutant uptake by organisms and the means 

 of pollutant transfer through the food web. 

 A variety of questions needs to be answered. 

 Are pollutants taken up directly from the 

 water, passively absorbed by organisms or 

 ingested with their food? Should high con- 

 centrations of heavy metals in higher preda- 

 tory organisms be ascribed to food-chain am- 

 plification or to absorption over their longer 

 life spans? Do pollutant concentrations in 



organisms equilibrate with their aquatic sur- 

 roundings? What is the significance of differ- 

 ent levels of pollutant residues in organisms? 

 Do they reflect ambient concentrations or 

 previous short-term exposure to high pollutant 

 concentrations? What are the half-life resi- 

 dence times of various pollutant forms in 

 different organisms? Such information is 

 especially important for interpreting those 

 studies in which selected species are moni- 

 tored for levels and significance of environ- 

 mental pollution. 



Goals 



The goals of the transfer process research 

 program are: (1) to determine important trans- 

 fer mechanisms; (2) to identify major environ- 

 mental factors that affect the transfer pro- 

 cesses; and (3) to develop the principles 

 governing transfer. 



EFFECTS OF POLLUTANTS 

 ON MARINE ORGANISMS 



The baseline and transfer studies provide 

 the foundation for investigations designed to 

 determine the extent to which pollutants have 

 an adverse effect on marine life. The pollutant 

 effects research projects portion of the En- 

 vironmental Quality Program involve three 

 distinct levels of marine life: cell-free en- 

 zymes and bacteria, whole organisms (zoo- 

 plankton, microalgae and higher forms] and 

 complete communities. Studies at any level 

 are guided by three considerations: (1) con- 

 centrations of pollutants should be at or near 

 the concentrations known to be present in 

 marine waters and sediments; (2] biological 

 limits used for detection of pollutant effects 

 should be something other than acute toxicity 

 levels; and (3) studies should include both 

 laboratory and field phases. All investigators 

 have agreed to use pollutants (petroleum, 

 PCBs and others] from a common source so 

 that results may be more directly comparable 

 and duplication of the analytical work neces- 

 sary to characterize pollutants may be 

 avoided. Research projects were initiated in 

 1973 dealing with the biological effects on 

 marine organisms of trace metals, petroleum, 

 halogenated hydrocarbons, and other syn- 

 thetic organic compounds. These are shown 

 in Table 2. 



