Library
Our library features many hundreds of entries.
To search among them, click "Search" below to pull down options, including filtering by document type, author, year, and keyword.
Find these options under "Show only items where." Or you can also sort by author, title, type, and year clicking the headings below.
Wetland Tracker Factsheet, Level 1: Landscape Assessment, CA State version. SFEI Contribution No. 569.
. 2008. 1996.
Building Ecological Resilience in Highly Modified Landscapes.
2018. (4.93 MB)Ecological resilience is a powerful heuristic for ecosystem management in the context of rapid environmental change. Significant efforts are underway to improve the resilience of biodiversity and ecological function to extreme events and directional change across all types of landscapes, from intact natural systems to highly modified landscapes such as cities and agricultural regions. However, identifying management strategies likely to promote ecological resilience remains a challenge. In this article, we present seven core dimensions to guide long-term and large-scale resilience planning in highly modified landscapes, with the objective of providing a structure and shared vocabulary for recognizing opportunities and actions likely to increase resilience across the whole landscape. We illustrate application of our approach to landscape-scale ecosystem management through case studies from two highly modified California landscapes, Silicon Valley and the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. We propose that resilience-based management is best implemented at large spatial scales and through collaborative, cross-sector partnerships.
Accelerating invasion rate in a highly invaded estuary. Science 279, 555-558 . SFEI Contribution No. 226.
1998. (323.66 KB)Adapting an ambient monitoring program to the challenge of managing emerging pollutants in the San Francisco estuary. Environmental Research 105, 132-144 . SFEI Contribution No. 493.
2007. (741.96 KB)Adjustment of the San Francisco estuary and watershed to decreasing sediment supply in the 20th century. Marine Geology 345, 63-71.
2013. Adult song sparrows do not alter their song repertoires. Ethology . SFEI Contribution No. 482.
2001. Alternate and New Brominated Flame Retardants Detected in US House Dust. Environmental Science & Technology.
2008. (372.68 KB)Analysis for Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn and Mn in estuarine water by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry coupled with an automated flow injection system. Analytica Chimica Acta 455, 11-22 . SFEI Contribution No. 239.
2002. Anthropogenic sources of lead in the Sacramento and San Joaquin drainage basins. Environmental Science and Technology . SFEI Contribution No. 289.
2003. Aqueous Speciation and 1-Octanol-Water Partitioning of Tributyl- and Triphenyltin: Effect of pH and Ion Composition. Environmental Science and Technology 31 (9), 2596-2602.
1997. (194.19 KB)Asian Kelp Undaria pinnatifida in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Biological Invasions 4, 333-338 . SFEI Contribution No. 417.
2002. (110.59 KB)Assessing Historic Mercury Concentrations in Sediments, San Francisco Bay Estuary. . SFEI Contribution No. 124.
2004. An assessment of future tidal marsh resilience in the San Francisco Estuary through modeling and quantifiable metrics of sustainability. Frontiers in Environmental Science 10.
2022. Quantitative, broadly applicable metrics of resilience are needed to effectively manage tidal marshes into the future. Here we quantified three metrics of temporal marsh resilience: time to marsh drowning, time to marsh tipping point, and the probability of a regime shift, defined as the conditional probability of a transition to an alternative super-optimal, suboptimal, or drowned state. We used organic matter content (loss on ignition, LOI) and peat age combined with the Coastal Wetland Equilibrium Model (CWEM) to track wetland development and resilience under different sea-level rise scenarios in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) of California. A 100-year hindcast of the model showed excellent agreement (R2 = 0.96) between observed (2.86 mm/year) and predicted vertical accretion rates (2.98 mm/year) and correctly predicted a recovery in LOI (R2 = 0.76) after the California Gold Rush. Vertical accretion in the tidal freshwater marshes of the Delta is dominated by organic production. The large elevation range of the vegetation combined with high relative marsh elevation provides Delta marshes with resilience and elevation capital sufficiently great to tolerate centenary sea-level rise (CLSR) as high as 200 cm. The initial relative elevation of a marsh was a strong determinant of marsh survival time and tipping point. For a Delta marsh of average elevation, the tipping point at which vertical accretion no longer keeps up with the rate of sea-level rise is 50 years or more. Simulated, triennial additions of 6 mm of sediment via episodic atmospheric rivers increased the proportion of marshes surviving from 51% to 72% and decreased the proportion drowning from 49% to 28%. Our temporal metrics provide critical time frames for adaptively managing marshes, restoring marshes with the best chance of survival, and seizing opportunities for establishing migration corridors, which are all essential for safeguarding future habitats for sensitive species.
Assessment of Long-Chain Polyethoxylate Surfactants in Wastewater Effluent, Stormwater Runoff, and Ambient Water of San Francisco Bay, CA. ACS ES&T Water 3 (4), 1233-1242 . SFEI Contribution No. 1126.
2023. Ethoxylated surfactants are ubiquitous organic environmental contaminants that have received continued attention over the past several decades, particularly as manufacturing rates increase worldwide and as toxicity concerns grow regarding alcohol ethoxylates. Presence of these compounds in surface water has been considered primarily the result of contaminated wastewater effluent by ethoxylated surfactant degradates; as a result, monitoring has focused on the small subset of short-chain ethoxylates in wastewater effluent and receiving waters. This study quantified long-chain alcohol and alkylphenol ethoxylated surfactants in San Francisco Bay area stormwater runoff, wastewater effluent, and ambient Bay water to determine concentrations and inform potential pathways of contamination. We employed high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry to quantitate long-chain polyethoxylates, which are rarely monitored in ethoxylated surfactant studies. Similar total ethoxylated surfactant concentrations were observed in stormwater runoff (0.004–4.7 μg/L) and wastewater effluent (0.003–4.8 μg/L, outlier of 45 μg/L). Ambient Bay water contamination (0.0001–0.71 μg/L) was likely the result of both stormwater and wastewater inputs to San Francisco Bay. These results suggest that a broader focus including long-chain compounds and stormwater pathways may be needed to fully characterize the occurrence and impacts of ethoxylated surfactants in urban surface waters.
Assessment of macrobenthos resonse to sediment contamination in the San Francisco Estuary, USA. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 23 . SFEI Contribution No. 60.
2004. (213.18 KB)Assessment of Macrobenthos Response to Sediment Contamination in the San Francisco Estuary (published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry). Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 23, 2178.
2004. Assessment of Potential Aquatic Herbicide Impacts to California Aquatic Ecosystems. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology . SFEI Contribution No. 539.
2008. (330.69 KB)Atmospheric Concentrations and Fluxes of Organic Compounds in the Northern San Francisco Estuary. Environmental Science and Technology 36 (22), 4741-4747 . SFEI Contribution No. 474.
2002. Benthic fluxes of silver in San Francisco Bay. Marine Chemistry 56, 15-26 . SFEI Contribution No. 214.
1997. Benthic lead fluxes in San Francisco Bay, California, USA. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58, 3307-3313 . SFEI Contribution No. 180.
1994. Benthic macrofaunal assemblages of the San Francisco Estuary and Delta, USA. Environmental Monitoring Assessment.
2013. (642.77 KB)Biogeochemistry of arsenic in natural waters: The importance of methylated species. Environmental Science & Technology 25, 420-427 . SFEI Contribution No. 160.
1991. A biogeographic pattern in sparrow bill morphology: parallel adaptation to tidal marshes. Evolution 59, 1588-1595 . SFEI Contribution No. 447.
2005. The biological deserts fallacy: Cities in their landscapes contribute more than we think to regional biodiversity. BioScience 71 (2) . SFEI Contribution No. 1031.
2021. (781.56 KB)Cities are both embedded within and ecologically linked to their surrounding landscapes. Although urbanization poses a substantial threat to biodiversity, cities also support many species, some of which have larger populations, faster growth rates, and higher productivity in cities than outside of them. Despite this fact, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the potentially beneficial links between cities and their surroundings.
We identify five pathways by which cities can benefit regional ecosystems by releasing species from threats in the larger landscape, increasing regional habitat heterogeneity and genetic diversity, acting as migratory stopovers, preadapting species to climate change, and enhancing public engagement and environmental stewardship. Increasing recognition of these pathways could help cities identify effective strategies for supporting regional biodiversity conservation and could provide a science-based platform for incorporating biodiversity alongside other urban greening goals.
Biological Effects of Anthropogenic Contaminants in the San Francisco Estuary. Environmental Research 105, 156-174 . SFEI Contribution No. 495.
2007. (528.14 KB)Biophilia beyond the Building: Applying the Tools of Urban Biodiversity Planning to Create Biophilic Cities. Sustainability 13 (5).
2021. (7.42 MB)In response to the widely recognized negative impacts of urbanization on biodiversity, many cities are reimagining urban design to provide better biodiversity support. Some cities have developed urban biodiversity plans, primarily focused on improving biodiversity support and ecosystem function within the built environment through habitat restoration and other types of urban greening projects. The biophilic cities movement seeks to reframe nature as essential infrastructure for cities, seamlessly integrating city and nature to provide abundant, accessible nature for all residents and corresponding health and well-being outcomes. Urban biodiversity planning and biophilic cities have significant synergies in their goals and the means necessary to achieve them. In this paper, we identify three key ways by which the urban biodiversity planning process can support biophilic cities objectives: engaging the local community; identifying science-based, quantitative goals; and setting priorities for action. Urban biodiversity planning provides evidence-based guidance, tools, and techniques needed to design locally appropriate, pragmatic habitat enhancements that support biodiversity, ecological health, and human health and well-being. Developing these multi-functional, multi-benefit strategies that increase the abundance of biodiverse nature in cities has the potential at the same time to deepen and enrich our biophilic experience in daily life.
Blurred lines: Multiple freshwater and marine algal toxins at the land-sea interface of San Francisco Bay, California. Harmful Algae 73, 138-147 . SFEI Contribution No. 875.
2018. Brominated and Chlorinated Flame Retardants in San Francisco Bay Sediments and Wildlife. Environment International 47, 56-65.
2012. (565.23 KB)Calibration and evaluation of five indicators of benthic community condition in two California bay and estuary habitats. Marine Pollution Bulletin 59 (1-3), 5-13.
2009. (332.88 KB)Carbamates, Diazinon, Imidacloprid and Piperonyl Butoxide in Sediments by Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry-Mass Spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry . SFEI Contribution No. 443.
2006. Carbamates, Diazinon, Imidacloprid and Piperonyl Butoxide in Surface Water by Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry-Mass Spectrometry. J. of Agricultural and Food Chemistry . SFEI Contribution No. 442.
2006. Carbon-isotope, diatom, and pollen evidence of late Holocene salinity changes in a brackish marsh in the San Francisco Estuary. Quaternary Research 55, 66-76 . SFEI Contribution No. 467.
2003. Cardiac toxicity of 5-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is differentially dependent on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor 2 isofrom during zebrafish development. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 257, 242-249.
2011. (1.33 MB)Causes of Sediment Toxicity to Mytilus galloprovincialis in San Francisco Bay, California. Archive of Environmental Contamination Toxicology 45, 486-491 . SFEI Contribution No. 296.
2003. Characterization of brominated, chlorinated, and phosphate flame retardants in San Francisco Bay, an urban estuary. Science of the Total Environment 652, 212-223 . SFEI Contribution No. 859.
2019. Flame retardant chemical additives are incorporated into consumer goods to meet flammability standards, and many have been detected in environmental matrices. A uniquely wide-ranging characterization of flame retardants was conducted, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and 52 additional brominated, chlorinated, or phosphate analytes, in water, sediment, bivalves, and harbor seal blubber of San Francisco Bay, a highly urbanized estuary once considered a hot spot for PBDE contamination. Among brominated flame retardants, PBDEs remained the dominant contaminants in all matrices, though declines have been observed over the last decade following their phase-out. Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and other hydrophobic, brominated flame retardants were commonly detected at lower levels than PBDEs in sediment and tissue matrices. Dechlorane Plus (DP) and related chlorinated compounds were also detected at lower levels or not at all across all matrices. In contrast, phosphate flame retardants were widely detected in Bay water samples, with highest median concentrations in the order TCPP > TPhP > TBEP > TDCPP > TCEP. Concentrations in Bay water were often higher than in other estuarine and marine environments. Phosphate flame retardants were also widely detected in sediment, in the order TEHP > TCrP > TPhP > TDCPP > TBEP. Several were present in bivalves, with levels of TDCPP comparable to PBDEs. Only four phosphate flame retardants were detected in harbor seal blubber: TCPP, TDCPP, TCEP, and TPhP. Periodic, multi-matrix screening is recommended to track contaminant trends impacted by changes to flammability standards and manufacturing practices, with a particular focus on contaminants like TDCPP and TPhP that were found at levels comparable to thresholds for aquatic toxicity.
Chemistry and Fate of Triazolopyrimidine Sulfonamide Herbicides. Reviews of Environmental Contamination & Toxicology.
2007. 1991.
Chromium speciation in San Francisco Bay: Superposition of geochemical processes causes complex spatial distribution of inorganic species. Marine Chemistry 49, 189-200 . SFEI Contribution No. 183.
1995. The Cloudwater Chemistry of Iron and Copper at Great Dun Fell, U.K. Atmospheric Environment 31 (16), 2515-2526.
1997. (1.35 MB)The colonial ascidian Didemnum sp. A: Current distribution, basic biology, and potential threat to marine communities of the northeast and west coasts of North America. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 99-108.
2007. (472.34 KB)Comparable levels of trace metal contamination in two semi-enclosed embayments: San Diego Bay and South San Francisco Bay. Environmental Science and Technology 27, 1934-1936 . SFEI Contribution No. 173.
1993. 2013.
Comparison of Methods to Map California Riparian Areas. . SFEI Contribution No. 522.
2006. (13.1 MB)Comparison of sediment supply to San Francisco Bay from watersheds draining the Bay Area and the Central Valley of California. Marine Geology Special Issue: A multi-discipline approach for understanding sediment transport and geomorphic evolution in an estuarine-coastal system.
2013. Competitive equilibration techniques for determining transition metal speciation in natural waters: Evaluation using model data. Analytica Chimica Acta 343, 161-181 . SFEI Contribution No. 211.
1997. Concentrations and loads of PCBs, dioxins, PAHs, PBDEs, OC pesticides and pyrethroids during storm and low flow conditions in a small urban semi-arid watershed. Science of the Total Environment 526, 251-261 . SFEI Contribution No. 650.
2015. Urban runoff has been identified in water quality policy documents for San Francisco Bay as a large and potentially controllable source of pollutants. In response, concentrations of suspended sediments and a range of trace organic pollutants were intensively measured in dry weather and storm flow runoff from a 100% urban watershed. Flow in this highly urban watershed responded very quickly to rainfall and varied widely resulting in rapid changes of turbidity, suspended sediments and pollutant concentrations. Concentrations of each organic pollutant class were within similar ranges reported in other studies of urban runoff, however comparison was limited for several of the pollutants given information scarcity. Consistently among PCBs, PBDEs, and PAHs, the more hydrophobic congeners were transported in larger proportions during storm flows relative to low flows. Loads for Water Years 2007-2010 were estimated using regression with turbidity during the monitored months and a flow weighted mean concentration for unmonitored dry season months. More than 91% of the loads for every pollutant measured were transported during storm events, along with 87% of the total discharge. While this dataset fills an important local data gap for highly urban watersheds of San Francisco Bay, the methods, the uniqueness of the analyte list, and the resulting interpretations have applicability for managing pollutant loads in urban watersheds in other parts of the world.
Contaminant concentrations and histopathological effects in Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus). Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology . SFEI Contribution No. 540.
2007. Contaminant concentrations in sport fish from San Francisco Bay, 1997. Marine Pollution Bulletin, accepted with revisions. 44, 1117-1129 . SFEI Contribution No. 253.
2002. Control costs, operation, and permitting issues for non-chemical plant control: case studies in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Region, California. Journal of Aquatic Plant Management 40-49.
2006. Creating data-quality objectives: A case study. Water Environment Laboratory Solutions 7-9 . SFEI Contribution No. 31.
1997. 1996.
1997.
Decadal decline of anthropogenic silver in San Francisco Bay: Comparison with lead. Environmental Science and Technology . SFEI Contribution No. 53.
2002. Decadal trends of silver and lead contamination in San Francisco Bay surface waters. Environmental Science and Techology 36, 2379-2386 . SFEI Contribution No. 276.
2002. Declines in Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether Contamination of San Francisco Bay following Production Phase-Outs and Bans. Environmental Science and Technology 49 (2), 777-784 . SFEI Contribution No. 742.
2015. The design of sampling transects for characterizing water quality in estuaries. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 45, 285-302 . SFEI Contribution No. 23.
1997. Detection of Organophosphate Flame Retardants in Furniture Foam and U.S. House Dust. Environmental Science and Technology 7490–7495 . SFEI Contribution No. 591.
2009. (255.57 KB)Determination of copper speciation in marine waters by competitive ligand equilibration/liquid-liquid extraction: An evaluation of the technique. Analytica Chimica Acta 284, 573-586 . SFEI Contribution No. 178.
1994. Determination of dissolved manganese (II) in estuarine and coastal waters, by differential pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry. Analytica Chimica Acta 344, 175-180 . SFEI Contribution No. 217.
1997. Diagnostic modeling of trace metal partitioning in South San Francisco Bay. Limnology and Oceanography 40, 345-358 . SFEI Contribution No. 187.
1995. Dissolved trace element cycles in the San Francisco Bay estuary. Marine Chemistry 36, 329-363 . SFEI Contribution No. 163.
1991. 2013.
Distribution of Colloidal trace metals in the San Francisco Bay estuary. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60, 4933-4944 . SFEI Contribution No. 194.
1996. Effective Application of Monitoring Information: The Case of San Francisco Bay. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 81, 15-25 . SFEI Contribution No. 291.
2003. Effect of injury in salt marsh periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata Say) on resistance to future attacks by blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun). American Malacological Bulletin 17, 141-146 . SFEI Contribution No. 257.
2002. Effects of diethyldithiocarbamate and 8-hydroxyquinoline additions on algal uptake of ambient. Estuaries 20, 66-76 . SFEI Contribution No. 212.
1997. Effects of salinity on olfactory toxicity and behavioral responses of juvenile salmonids from copper. Aquatic Toxicology 175.
2016. Dissolved copper is one of the more pervasive and toxic constituents of stormwater runoff and is commonly found in stream, estuary, and coastal marine habitats of juvenile salmon. While stormwater runoff does not usually carry copper concentrations high enough to result in acute lethality, they are of concern because sublethal concentrations of copper exposure have been shown to both impair olfactory function and alter behavior in various species in freshwater. To compare these results to other environments that salmon are likely to encounter, experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of salinity on the impairment of olfactory function and avoidance of copper. Copper concentrations well within the range of those found in urban watersheds, have been shown to diminish or eliminate the olfactory response to the amino acid, l-serine in freshwater using electro-olfactogram (EOG) techniques. The olfactory responses of both freshwater-phase and seawater-phase coho and seawater-phase Chinook salmon, were tested in freshwater or seawater, depending on phase, and freshwater-phase coho at an intermediate salinity of 10‰. Both 10‰ salinity and full strength seawater protected against the effects of 50μg copper/L. In addition to impairing olfactory response, copper has also been shown to alter salmon behavior by causing an avoidance response. To determine whether copper will cause avoidance behavior at different salinities, experiments were conducted using a multi-chambered experimental tank. The circular tank was divided into six segments by water currents so that copper could be contained within one segment yet fish could move freely between them. The presence of individual fish in each of the segments was counted before and after introduction of dissolved copper (<20μg/L) to one of the segments in both freshwater and seawater. To address whether use of preferred habitat is altered by the presence of copper, experiments were also conducted with a submerged structural element. The presence of sub-lethal levels of dissolved copper altered the behavior of juvenile Chinook salmon by inducing an avoidance response in both freshwater and seawater. While increased salinity is protective against loss of olfactory function from dissolved copper, avoidance could potentially affect behaviors beneficial to growth, survival and reproductive success.
Emerging Contaminants: Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs). RMP Regional Monitoring News, San Francisco Estuary Regional Monitoring Program for Trace Substances 10, p.1-11 . SFEI Contribution No. 502.
2005. (736.14 KB)Empirical estimation of biota exposure range for calculation of bioaccumulation parameters. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 5 . SFEI Contribution No. 573.
2009. (452.29 KB) 1992.
Environmental threats to tidal marsh vertebrates of the San Francisco Bay Estuary. Studies in Avian Biology 32, 176-339 . SFEI Contribution No. 489.
2006. (4.47 MB)Episodic global dispersal in shallow water marine organisms: The case history of the European shore crabs Carcinus maenas and Carcinus aestuarii. Biogeography 30, 1809-1820 . SFEI Contribution No. 383.
2003. (344.4 KB)Establishing Critical Datum Elevations for Wetland Restoration. Coastal Zone . SFEI Contribution No. 484.
2001. Estimates of suspended sediment entering San Francisco Bay from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta, San Francisco Bay, California. J. of Hydrology . SFEI Contribution No. 460.
2006. (497.13 KB)Estimation of Contaminant Loads from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to San Francisco Bay. Water Environment Research 87 (4), 334-346.
2015. Contaminant concentrations from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River watershed were determined in water samples mainly during flood flows in an ongoing effort to describe contaminant loads entering San Francisco Bay, CA, USA. Calculated PCB and total mercury loads during the 6-year observation period ranged between 3.9 and 19 kg/yr and 61 and 410 kg/yr, respectively. Long-term average PCB loads were estimated at 7.7 kg/yr and total mercury loads were estimated at 200 kg/yr. Also monitored were PAHs, PBDEs (two years of data), and dioxins/furans (one year of data) with average loads of 392, 11, and 0.15/0.014 (OCDD/OCDF) kg/yr, respectively. Organochlorine pesticide loads were estimated at 9.9 kg/yr (DDT), 1.6 kg/yr (chlordane), and 2.2 kg/yr (dieldrin). Selenium loads were estimated at 16 300 kg/yr. With the exception of selenium, all average contaminant loads described in the present study were close to or below regulatory load allocations established for North San Francisco Bay.
Estuarine and scalar patterns of invasion in the soft-bottom benthic communities of the San Francisco Estuary. Biological Invasions 5, 85-102 . SFEI Contribution No. 292.
2003. The estuarine cycles of cobalt in San Francisco Bay and the New York Bight. Limnology and Oceanography . SFEI Contribution No. 297.
2003. Evaluating impacts of Lake Sweeper plant control. J. of Aquatic Plant Management . SFEI Contribution No. 461.
2005. Evaluation of immune responses as indicators of contamination in San Francisco Bay, Using a novel phagocytosis and phagocytic index method developed for mussels. Marine Environmental Research . SFEI Contribution No. 293.
2003. Evaluation of water hyacinth survival and growth in the Sacramento Delta, California following cutting. J. of Aquatic Plant Management . SFEI Contribution No. 440.
2006. (781.42 KB)Evidence for thyroid endocrine disruption in wild fish in San Francisco Bay, California, USA. Relationships to contaminant exposures. Aquatic Toxicology 96, 203-215.
2010. (551.68 KB)Exotic organisms in southern California Bays and Harbors. Marine Bioinvasions Conference . SFEI Contribution No. 481.
2002. Factors affecting suspended-solids concentrations in South San Francisco Bay, California. Journal of Geophysical Research 101, 12,087-12,095 . SFEI Contribution No. 10.
1996. First evidence of conspecific brood parasitism in song sparrows with comments on methods sufficient to document this behavior. Condor . SFEI Contribution No. 490.
2006. (73.25 KB) 2002.
Forecasting Multiple Watershed-level Benefits of Alternative Storm Water Management Approaches in the Semi-arid Southwest: Required Tools for Investing Strategically. . SFEI Contribution No. 602.
2010. (2.29 MB)A framework for comprehensive, integrated, watershed monitoring in New York City. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 62, 147-167 . SFEI Contribution No. 268.
2000. Framework for nontargeted investigation of contaminants released by wildfires into stormwater runoff: Case study in the northern San Francisco Bay area. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management . SFEI Contribution No. 1044.
2021. Wildfires can be extremely destructive to communities and ecosystems. However, the full scope of the ecological damage is often hard to assess, in part due to limited information on the types of chemicals introduced to affected landscapes and waterways. The objective of this study was to establish a sampling, analytical, and interpretive framework to effectively identify and monitor contaminants of emerging concern in environmental water samples impacted by wildfire runoff. A nontargeted analysis consisting of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC/TOF-MS) was conducted on stormwater samples from watersheds in the City of Santa Rosa and Sonoma and Napa Counties, USA, after the three most destructive fires during the October 2017 Northern California firestorm. Chemicals potentially related to wildfires were selected from the thousands of chromatographic features detected through a screening method that compared samples from fire-impacted sites versus unburned reference sites. This screening led to high confidence identifications of 76 potentially fire-related compounds. Authentic standards were available for 48 of these analytes, and 46 were confirmed by matching mass spectra and GC × GC retention times. Of these 46 compounds, 37 had known commercial and industrial uses as intermediates or ingredients in plastics, personal care products, pesticides, and as food additives. Nine compounds had no known uses or sources and may be oxidation products resulting from burning of natural or anthropogenic materials. Preliminary examination of potential toxicity associated with the 46 compounds, conducted via online databases and literature review, indicated limited data availability. Regional comparison suggested that more structural damage may yield a greater number of unique, potentially wildfire-related compounds. We recommend further study of post-wildfire runoff using the framework described here, which includes hypothesis-driven site selection and nontargeted analysis, to uncover potentially significant stormwater contaminants not routinely monitored after wildfires and inform risk assessment.
Freshwater inflow: Science, Policy, and Managment. Estuaries 25, 1243-1245 . SFEI Contribution No. 271.
2002.