Spatial distribution of Chlorpyrifos and Endosulfan in USA coastal waters and the Great Lakes

Between 1994 and 1997, 258 tissue and 178 sediment samples were analyzed for chlorpyrifos throughout the coastal United States and the Great Lakes. Subsequently, 95 of the 1997 tissue samples were reanalyzed for endosulfan. Tissue chlorpyrifos concentrations, which exceeded the 90th percentile, were found in coastal regions known to have high agricultural use rates but also strongly correlated with sites near high population. The highest concentrations of endosulfans in contrast, were generally limited to agricultural regions of the country. Detections of chlorpyrifos at several Alaskan sites suggest an atmospheric transport mechanism. Many Great Lakes sites had chlorpyrifos tissue concentrations above the 90th percentile which decreased with increasing distance from the Corn Belt region (Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin) where most agriculturally applied chlorpyrifos is used. Correlation analysis suggests that fluvial discharge is the primary transport pathway on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts for chlorpyrifos but not necessarily for endosulfans. (PDF contains 28 pages)

Charles H. Gilbert, Pioneer Ichthyologist and Fishery Biologist

Charles Henry Gilbert (Fig. 1) was a pioneer ichthyologist and, later, fishery biologist of particular significance to natural history of the western United States. Born in Rockford, Illinois on 5 December 1859, he spent his early years in Indianapolis, Indiana, where, in 1874, he came under the influence of his high school teacher, David Starr Jordan (1851-1931). Gilbert graduated from high school in 1875, and when Jordan became a professor of natural history at Butler University in Irvington, Indiana, Gilbert followed, and received his B.A. degree in 1879. Jordan moved to Indiana University, in Bloomington, in the fall of 1879, and Gilbert again followed, earning his M.S. degree in 1882 and his Ph.D. in 1883 in zoology. His doctorate was the first ever awarded by Indiana University.