Review our work products
We provide easy access to thousands of SFEI’s reports, journal articles, books, conference papers/proceedings, factsheets, hearing summaries, maps, and more.
These printable and downloadable materials connect our science to action, cover a broad range of topics, and have many applications. This library is searchable and filterable. If you have difficulty finding the information you are looking for, please contact us at [email protected].
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Author(s): Jennifer Dougherty | Kayli Paterson | Melissa Gonzalez | Edward Kolodziej | Diana Lin | Alicia Gilbreath | Elisabeth Rødland | Win Cowger | Hazel Vaquero | Andrea Amend | Rebecca Sutton
2026
The performance capabilities of bioretention systems for a range of stormwater constituents remain lightly characterized, particularly for emerging organic contaminants. To address this gap, we evaluated concentration- and load-based treatment outcomes at four urban…
Author(s): Diana Lin | Miguel Méndez | Kayli Paterson | Adam Wong | Donald Yee | Rebecca Sutton | Erika Houtz | Mary Cousins | Lorien Fono
2024
Identification of major sources of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in wastewater requires comprehensive evaluation, as wastewater is a pathway for a wide range of PFAS products in use, and the PFAS class includes thousands of compounds. We applied both EPA Method…
Author(s): Paul Mayer | Kelly Moran | Ezra Miller | Susanne Brander | Stacey Harper | Manuel Garcia-Jaramillo | Victor Carrasco-Navarro | Kay Ho | Robert Burgess | Leah Hampton | Elise Granek | Margaret McCauley | Jenifer McIntyre | Edward Kolodziej | Ximin Hu | Antony Williams | Barbara Beckingham | Miranda Jackson | Rhea Sanders-Smith | Chloe Fender | George King | Michael Bollman | Sujay Kaushal | Brittany Cunningham | Sara Hutton | Jackelyn Lang | Heather Goss | Samreen Siddiqui | Rebecca Sutton | Diana Lin | Miguel Mendez
2024
About 3 billion new tires are produced each year and about 800 million tires become waste annually. Global dependence upon tires produced from natural rubber and petroleum-based compounds represents a persistent and complex environmental problem with only partial and often…
Tire Wear: Emissions Estimates and Market Insights to Inform Monitoring Design
Author(s): Kelly Moran | Alicia Gilbreath | Miguel Méndez | Diana Lin | Rebecca Sutton
2023
Every vehicle on the road sheds tiny particles from its rubber tires into the environment. Tire wear is one of the top sources of microplastic releases to the environment. Tire wear also disperses tire-related chemicals into the environment. SFEI studies supported by the…
A living tool for the continued exploration of microplastic toxicity
Author(s): Leah Hampton | Hannah De Frond | Ludovic Hermabessiere | Ezra Miller | Vera de Ruijter | Andrea Faltynkova | Syd Kotar | Laura Monclús | Samreen Siddiqui | Johannes Völker | Susanne Brander | Albert Koelmans | Chelsea Rochman | Martin Wagner | Alvine Mehinto | Heili Lowman | Scott Coffin | Emily Darin
2022
Throughout the past decade, many studies have reported adverse effects in biota following microplastic exposure. Yet, the field is still emerging as the current understanding of microplastic toxicity is limited. At the same time, recent legislative mandates have required…
Microplastics from Tire Particles in San Francisco Bay Fact Sheet
Author(s): Kelly Moran | Ruth Askevold
2022
As we drive our cars, our tires shed tiny particles
When it rains, stormwater runoff carries tire particles—and the toxic chemicals they contain—from city streets and highways to storm drains and fish habitat in creeks and estuaries like San Francisco…
Author(s): Leah Hampton | Hans Bouwmeester | Susanne Brander | Scott Coffin | Matthew Cole | Ludovic Hermabessiere | Alvine Mehinto | Ezra Miller | Chelsea Rochman | Stephen Weisberg
2022
To assess the potential risk of microplastic exposure to humans and aquatic ecosystems, reliable toxicity data is needed. This includes a more complete foundational understanding of microplastic toxicity and better characterization of the hazards they may present. To expand…
Risk-based management framework for microplastics in aquatic ecosystems
Author(s): Alvine Mehinto | Scott Coffin | Albert Koelmans | Susanne Brander | Martin Wagner | Leah Hampton | Allen Burton | Ezra Miller | Todd Gouin | Stephen Weisberg | Chelsea Rochman
2022
Microplastic particles (MPs) are ubiquitous across a wide range of aquatic habitats but determining an appropriate level of risk management is hindered by a poor understanding of environmental risk. Here, we introduce a risk management framework for aquatic ecosystems that…
Author(s): Xia Zhu | Keenan Munno | Jelena Grbic | Larissa Werbowski | Jacqueline Bikker | Annissa Ho | Edie Guo | Meg Sedlak | Rebecca Sutton | Carolynn Box | Diana Lin | Alicia Gilbreath | Rusty Holleman | Marie-Josee Fortin | Chelsea Rochman
2021
The physical and chemical properties of microplastics and their environmental distributions may provide clues about their sources and inform their fate. We demonstrate the value of extensive monitoring of microplastics in an urban bay, San Francisco Bay. Surface water, fish,…
Author(s): Natasha Klasios | Hannah De Frond | Ezra Miller | Meg Sedlak | Chelsea Rochman
2021
Microplastics are an emerging contaminant of high environmental concern due to their widespread distribution and availability to aquatic organisms. Filter-feeding organisms like bivalves have been identified as particularly susceptible to microplastics, and because of this,…
A Synthesis of Microplastic Sources and Pathways to Urban Runoff
Author(s): Kelly Moran | Ezra Miller | Miguel Mendez | Shelly Moore | Alicia Gilbreath | Rebecca Sutton | Diana Lin
2021
California Senate Bill 1263 (2018) tasks the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) with leading statewide efforts to address microplastic pollution, and requires the OPC to adopt and implement a Statewide Microplastics Strategy related to microplastic materials that pose an emerging…
A ubiquitous tire rubber-derived chemical induces acute mortality in coho salmon
Author(s): Zhenyu Tian | Haoqi Zhao | Katherine Peter | Melissa Gonzalez | Jill Wetzel | Christopher Wu | Ximin Hu | Jasmine Prat | Emma Mudrock | Rachel Hettinger | Allan Cortina | Rajshree Biswas | Flávio Kock | Ronald Soong | Amy Jenne | Bowen Du | Fan Hou | Huan He | Rachel Lundeen | Alicia Gilbreath | Rebecca Sutton | Nathaniel Scholz | Jay Davis | Michael Dodd | Andre Simpson | Jenifer McIntyre | Edward Kolodziej
2021
In U.S. Pacific Northwest coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), stormwater exposure annually causes unexplained acute mortality when adult salmon migrate to urban creeks to reproduce. By investigating this phenomenon, we identified a highly toxic quinone transformation product…
Author(s): L.M. Werbowski | Alicia Gilbreath | K. Munno | X. Zhu | J. Grbic | T. Wu | Rebecca Sutton | Meg Sedlak | A.D. Deshpande | Chelsea Rochman
2021
Stormwater runoff has been suggested to be a significant pathway of microplastics to aquatic habitats; yet, few studies have quantified microplastics in stormwater. Here, we quantify and characterize urban stormwater runoff from 12 watersheds surrounding San Francisco Bay for…
Author(s): Charlotte Hung | Natasha Klasios | Xia Zhu | Meg Sedlak | Rebecca Sutton
2020
To inform mitigation strategies and understand how microplastics affect wildlife, research is focused on understanding the sources, pathways, and occurrence of microplastics in the environment and in wildlife. Microplastics research entails counting and characterizing…
Microparticles, Microplastics, and PAHs in Bivalves in San Francisco Bay
Author(s): Ezra Miller | Natasha Klasios | Diana Lin | Meg Sedlak | Rebecca Sutton | Chelsea Rochman
2020
California mussels (Mytilus californianus and hybrid Mytilus galloprovincialis / Mytilus trossulus) and Asian clams (Corbicula fluminea) were collected at multiple sites in San Francisco Bay. Mussels from a reference area with minimal urban influence were also deployed in…
Author(s): Ezra Miller | Meg Sedlak | Diana Lin | Carolynn Box | Christopher Holleman | Chelsea Rochman | Rebecca Sutton
2020
Microplastics are ubiquitous and persistent contaminants in the ocean and a pervasive and preventable threat to the health of marine ecosystems. Microplastics come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and plastic types, each with unique physical and chemical properties and…
Author(s): Susanne Brander | Violet Renick | Melissa Foley | Clare Steele | Mary Woo | Amy Lusher | Steve Carr | Paul Helm | Carolynn Box | Sam Cherniak | Robert Andrews | Chelsea Rochman
2020
Plastic pollution is a defining environmental contaminant and is considered to be one of the greatest environmental threats of the Anthropocene, with its presence documented across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The majority of this plastic debris falls into the micro (1…
Author(s): Chelsea Rochman | Keenan Munno | Carolynn Box | Anna Cummins | Xia Zhu | Rebecca Sutton
2020
Microplastic contamination in the marine environment is a global issue. Across the world, policies at the national and international level are needed to facilitate the scale of change needed to tackle this significant problem. However, sources and patterns of plastic…
Author(s): Meg Sedlak | Rebecca Sutton | Ezra Miller | Diana Lin
2019
Based on the detection of microplastics in San Francisco Bay surface water and Bay Area wastewater effluent in 2015, the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP) convened a Microplastic Workgroup (MPWG) in 2016 to discuss the issue, identify…
Author(s): Alicia Gilbreath | Lester McKee | Ila Shimabuku | Diana Lin | Larissa Werbowski | Xia Zhu | Jelena Grbic | Chelsea Rochman
2019
A multiyear water quality performance study of a bioretention rain garden located along a major urban transit corridor east of San Francisco Bay was conducted to assess the efficacy of bioretention rain gardens to remove pollutants. Based on data collected in three years…
San Francisco Bay Microplastics Project: Science-Supported Solutions and Policy Recommendations
Author(s): Carolynn Box | Anna Cummins
2019
Plastics in our waterways and in the ocean, and more specifically microplastics (plastic particles less than 5 mm in size), have gained global attention as a pervasive and preventable threat to marine ecosystem health. The San Francisco Bay Microplastics Project was designed…
Understanding Microplastic Levels, Pathways, and Transport in the San Francisco Bay Region
Author(s): Rebecca Sutton | Diana Lin | Meg Sedlak | Carolynn Box | Alicia Gilbreath | Rusty Holleman | Ezra Miller | Adam Wong | Keenan Munno | Xia Zhu | Chelsea Rochman
2019
Microplastics (particles less than 5 mm) are ubiquitous and persistent pollutants in the ocean and a pervasive and preventable threat to the health of marine ecosystems. Microplastics come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and plastic types, each with unique physical and…
Microplastic Contamination in San Francisco Bay - Fact Sheet
Author(s): Rebecca Sutton
2016
This factsheet compiles the findings for microplastics, as they are found in San Francisco Bay. The factsheet defines the different forms of contamination, the studies that have been performed as of 2016, and the findings of those studies.
Microplastic contamination in the San Francisco Bay, California, USA
Author(s): Rebecca Sutton | Sherri Mason | Shavonne Stanek | Ellen Willis-Norton | Ian Wren | Carolynn Box
2016
Despite widespread detection of microplastic pollution in marine environments, data describing microplastic abundance in urban estuaries and microplastic discharge via treated municipal wastewater are limited. This study presents information on abundance, distribution, and…
Microplastic pollution is widely detected in US municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent
Author(s): Sherri Mason | D Garneau | Rebecca Sutton | Y Chu | K Ehmann | J Barnes | D Papazissimos | DL Rogers
2016
Municipal wastewater effluent has been proposed as one pathway for microplastics to enter the aquatic environment. Here we present a broad study of municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent as a pathway for microplastic pollution to enter receiving waters. A total of 90…