Project Summary (1995-2000)

This project is designed to evaluate the interrelationships between the microbial community and pollutants in the New Bedford Harbor area, an EPA designated Superfund Site, and to obtain a comprehensive evaluation of the health of the ecosystem. This project builds on an extensive database obtained in the first three years of the project, designed to measure the distribution and transport of toxic metals throughout the New Bedford harbor area. This next phase of the research is divided into three parts: bioavailability and bioaccumulation rates of contaminants, effect of remediation efforts on the ecosystem health, and the development of a "microbial community biomarker" of environmental stress.