Department of Environmental & Aquatic Animal Health - Research Programs & Projects

Environmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment

On-going research at VIMS

• Developing predictive models (Quantitative Ion Character-Activity relationships or QICARs) of metal toxicity based on metal ion-ligand binding chemistry 
• Improving current methods of predicting lethal effects by applying survival time methods. 
• Improving methods currently used in ecotoxicology for measuring bioavailability. 
• Risk assessment associated with fish kills and external lesion appearance notionally linked to Pfiesteria or
  Pfiesteria complex organisms in a selected tributary of the Bay. 
• Evaluation of ambient water and sediment toxicity methods 
• Determining the effect of contaminants in the Elizabeth River estuary on fish population genetics.