Projects

Funds are requested to conduct mercury contamination research at Wharton Brook in Quinnipiac River system. Research activities include measuring mercury in water, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish along the length of thw Wharton Brook and its tributaries.

Funds are requested to support the continuation of measuring elevation change and water levels in the Quinnipiac River marshes in efforts to understand the rate and causes  of marsh drowning (conversion to mudflat) that has been observed there.

Funds are requested to support the offering of a short course in river processes to local members of conservation/inland wetland commissions and environmental activists. The course will cover the basic hydrologic, geomorphic, chemical, and biological processes that govern stream ecosystems, and how they are perturbed by human activities. Participants will recieve the scientific tools that they need in order to understand and critically evaluate environmental data on the Quinnipiac River.

To support the project entitled Bioaccumulation of Sediment Contaminants by Benthos of the Quinnipiac River.  This proposed research is an investigation of the sediment contaminant load of two sites in the Quinnipiac River and the availability of the contaminants to the benthic organisms living in them.

To support the project entitled Comparison of Sediment Contaminants in the Branford River and the Quinnipiac River and their effects on the Benthic community.  This proposed research is an investigation of the sediment contaminant load of five sites in the Quinnipiac River and three sites within the Branford River.