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 Kosta Seaford Kosta is a chemistry major from Benton, Kentucky. The title of his project is Dynamics of Organic Pollutants in Ledbetter Embayment. The goal of the C-RUI project is to quantitatively characterize the effect of human-induced, seasonal water level fluctuations upon biogeochemical and ecological processes in the Ledbetter Embayment (LE). This subproject will look at the effects that seasonal water level fluctuations have upon the environmental behavior, fate, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification of persistent and toxic organic compounds, namely polychlorinated biphenyls, chlorinated pesticides and their metabolites in LE. Human-induced water level changes in the LE result in alteration of environmental parameters such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, (oxygenated, poorly oxygenated and anoxic conditions) etc. These changes affect the stability of some chlorinated pesticides. For example, DDT is converted to DDE and DDD in oxygenated and anoxic conditions respectively. Correspondingly, exposure to these pollutants varies in the organisms inhabiting the LE during different seasons (summer and winter pool). Environmental (soil, sediment, and water) and biological samples (benthic organisms, fish, shellfish, birds and mammals) will be collected during different seasons and the PCBs and chlorinated pesticides levels will be measured in addition to other conventional parameters (DO, pH, nutrient levels, etc). The data generated will be used to describe the distribution, environmental transformations, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification of the pollutants in the LE, and will be presented in upcoming environmental chemistry colloquia.
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