Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
(N/A)
RIVERSIDE,CA 92521
Performing Department
Entomology, Riverside
Non Technical Summary
Since chartered in 1956, the W-3045 has provided leadership in identifying agrochemical fate, exposure and health effects, characterizing adverse impacts from agrochemical exposure to cells, organisms, and ecosystems, and putting into practice and advancing mitigation technologies that reduce risks to humans and the environment. Today, the work of W-3045 extends well beyond the western region with involvement from a wide assemblage of USDA-ARS and nationwide state AES land-grant university researchers-extension specialists. W-3045 members effectively integrate information across scales ranging from molecular to landscape levels to address the fate and effects of agrochemicals and emerging organic contaminants in/on human, animal and environmental health. The ability to cross disciplinary boundaries and to adapt different measurement and modeling tools to address complex emerging environmental problems remains essential for improved risk management and risk communication. Cooperating W-3045 researchers represent an array of aligned disciplines in basic and applied biology, toxicology, environmental chemistry, engineering, risk assessment, outreach, and education to address current and emerging human-environmental agrochemical health issues. USDA-ARS facilities in MN, MD and SD and state land grant AES colleges and their affiliate institutions span over the west (AZ, CA, HI, MT, NM, NV, OR, WA), Great Plains (KS), Midwest (IA, IN, MI, MN, OH), east (NY), and southern states (FL, LA). W-3045 research and extension crosses disciplinary boundaries providing key information to state and national public-environmental health regulatory agencies, soil conservation districts, regional agricultural commodity groups, and agrochemical users. The depth of knowledge and strong collaborations among state AES and USDA-ARS scientists provide a unique amalgamation of research and extension capabilities. This on-going collaboration will remain vital to address existing and emerging challenges for characterizing the impact and devising appropriate mitigations for pesticides and other agrochemicals that are for and from agriculture. The emerging challenges in crop protection will require a broader array of genetic tools for investigating more subtle tropic interactions that can have adverse impacts at the organism, population, community, and ecosystem level. W-3045 membership will continue to include researchers investigating emerging issues who will be needed to develop technologies for future agricultural pest control needs.The value of W-3045 membership is strongly evident today at the national and international levels. W-3045 members from USDA-ARS (MD) and UC-Riverside AES respectively chaired and co-chaired the 2014 International Congress of Pesticide Chemistry (IUPAC) scientific program activities with program support from many W-3045 members. Collaborations built in W-3045 have continually strengthened state AES and ARS involvement in the American Chemical Society Agrochemical Division (AGRO). W-3045 members from ARS MD, UC-Riverside AES, ARS ND, NV AES, MN ARS, MS AES, OR AES, and WA AES serve in official capacities or on executive committees. It is worthy to note, three W-3045 extension specialists and researchers have been recently distinguished as Fellows in the ACS AGRO. As important, a very high percent of ACS AGRO graduate research awards (40% in 2012 alone) came from W-3045 project members in areas of proteomic/bioavailability modeling to land-scale native grass phytoremediation simulations of herbicide runoff. W-3045 OR AES scientists also provide outreach to the public through toll-free and web-based services from the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC). This information center provides objective, science-based information about pesticides pesticide poisonings, toxicology, and environmental chemistry that enable people to make informed decisions. TOXicology NETwork (EXTOXNET) also housed at Oregon State University remains among one of the most widely used internet sites for those seeking technical information on pesticides and household chemicals. Members also work closely with industry and non-profit associations impacted by agrochemical use such as the US Composting Council, state agricultural crop and animal commissions and commodity groups. In summary, the collaborative and multidisciplinary activities of W-3045 have been singularly effective in communicating to other researchers, governmental agencies, industry, non-profits and the public about the potential impacts of agrochemicals and ideas for mitigation.
Animal Health Component
33%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
34%
Applied
33%
Developmental
33%
Goals / Objectives
Identify, develop, and/or validate trace residue analytical methods, immunological procedures, biosassays and biomarkers.
Characterize abiotic and biotic reaction mechanisms, transformation rates, and fate in agricultural and natural ecosystems.
Determine adverse impacts from agrochemical exposure to cells, organisms, and ecosystems.
Project Methods
Objective 1: Researchers will develop appropriate analytical tools to better characterize agricultural waste management processes and their effects on agrochemical fate and persistence. These researchers will also be engaged in developing bench-scale reactor systems to track the fate of environmentally persistent pyridine and pyrimidine carboxylic acid herbicides from commercial feedstocks, in finished composts and anerobic digestates. This work will include procurement of compost throughout the US for residue analysis and bioassays using sentinel plant species. Trace-level residue analyses will be developed in consultation with herbicide producers and W-3045 members with expertise in this area to track their fate and allow for multistate screening of composts.Cornell scientists will continue to develop "green" in vitro bioavailability procedures that employ thin-film solid phase microextraction (TF-SPME) as an alternative to traditional to in vivo Eisenia fetida (earthworms) methods. Cornell researchers will also continue to optimize this new rapid screening in-vitro method for assaying the bioavailability of EEDCs in soils and sediments. Purdue SAES scientists will continue to strengthen understanding of mechanisms of toxicity (MOT) of ionic metals and on metal nanoparticle surfaces and ascertain where these MOT cellular interactions take place and if they are complementary, additive or, can produce a greater overall synergistic toxic response. USDA-ARS Beltsville and Minnesota scientists will continue to characterize the long range atmospheric fate of agrochemical persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and contaminants of emerging concern for mitigation in surface and ground waters. HI AES researchers will build on their existing immunoassay and proteomic capability and focus on identifying and isolating catabolic enzymes and genes for optimizing microbial transformation pathways of current and emerging environmental contaminants. Concerted efforts will be directed to identifying degradation bottlenecks and seeking enzymatic pathways that can lead to total contaminant mineralization.A multistate collaborative air monitoring research project is being proposed to bridge the gap between the public view of pesticide analytical detection and levels that assure safety based on risk assessment. Air sampling and analysis will employ pesticide methods published by California Department of Pesticide regulation, UC Davis, UC Riverside, University of Nevada, and Washington State University. Ambient air measured and modelled levels, indoor air inhalation dose, and biomonitoring will be communicated and residents apprised of exposures exceeding those reference doses. Means of communication will also include publications in technical reports as well as in material available widely in the farming communities. Training sessions with farmworkers and spray application personnel will be aimed at raising awareness and progress in adoption of appropriate intervention methods.Objective 2: Methods for the study of agrochemical transformation (mechanisms and rates) will be developed under controlled laboratory and field investigations, Nevada and Washington State AES researchers will continue to assess occupational and bystander human health risks from inhalation exposure to the agriculturally important pesticides. Cornell will forward recent advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) successes of heterogeneous Fenton-like reactions that utilize both naturally occurring iron mineral and nano-scale substrate surfaces for the degradation of agrochemicals in both aqueous and sediment systems. Next steps will build on better defining reaction mechanisms for a variety of agrochemicals and optimizing reaction kinetics at neutral pHs for broader US-based field mitigation.Oregon AES extension specialists will continue to explore regional pesticide modeling approaches that incorporate continuous passive sampling monitoring and spatial analysis providing state-local agency-producer stakeholders land use practices forecasting tools for understanding impacts of pesticide and other agrochemical surface water loadings to critical stream habitats. SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) will be refined to evaluate the relationship between land use, pesticide use practices, climate, and potential for pesticide surface water loading at the watershed scale. Input data, model parameters and/or model processes will be augmented to best simulate changes in land cover/land use, changes in pest management or the implementation of beneficial management practices. Model enhancements will continue to aid IPM and other beneficial management practices to reduce watershed pesticide loading. In addition, model simulations will be used to identify areas within the watershed where the implementation of mitigation measures could have the greatest impact on the reduction of agrochemical loading. OR AES extension specialists will also continue to take a leading role in communicating pollinator health and economically viable best management practices that can reduce pollinator risks from exposure to pesticides while controlling managed honey bee pests and diseases. Montana SAE scientists will explore uncertainties associated with field environmental concentrations and fate of insecticide applications used in vector-borne disease management. Mosquito management professionals from abatement districts throughout the US will continue to be reached by presentations and published research results as related to environmental risk and mosquito management strategies. The need for reclaimed water for irrigation in crop producing regions of the western states will continue to increase based on projected water scarcity from climate change. UC-Riverside AES scientists will continue to evaluate man-made chemical exposures from root uptake and plant translocation under realistic cultivation and management conditions.Objective 3: W-3045 research in Kansas will continue to generate important information at the cellular level on organism response to changing environmental stress. This information can be used to effectively manage ecological systems and allow proactive rather than reactive strategies for restoring ecosystem health.Montana AES scientists will continue to evaluate the potential impacts to aquatic organisms from agrochemicals using probabilistic ecological risk assessment. This approach will be used to better integrate agrochemical physiochemical information with dissolved organic matter to estimate bioavailability. Modeling approaches that take into account the physiochemical properties of an agrochemical will remain critical in assessing ecological aquatic risks and developing appropriate environmentally relevant mitigation practices.NV SAE scientists in collaboration with WA SAE propose to evaluate the impacts of non-lethal agrochemical/environmental exposures of the neonicotinoid insecticides imidacloprid and clothianidin on the homing pigeon. The in-life objectives will assess effects of neonicotinoid exposure on reproduction, chick survival, and flight behavior. Analytical objectives of this study performed by the WA SAE will assess the uptake and half-life of these neonicotinoid insecticides by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectroscopy (LC/MS/MS).Purdue AES scientists will continue to evaluate transport of animal hormones and nutrients from land-applied CAFO waste to adjacent waterways in the Midwest to better understand impacts of land-applied CAFO waste on fish populations and communities. This work will include microcosm assessments that will investigate phenotypic alterations and sex-specific gene expression in juvenile fish species and other aquatic test species. HI AES scientists will advance test animal proteomic profiling investigations.