HR: 1400h
AN: OS23A-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Application of a Human Fecal Marker Assay to Diverse Coastal Environments in California and Hawaii
AU: * Layton, B
EM: laytonba@stanford.edu
AF: Stanford University, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
AU: Boehm, A
EM: aboehm@stanford.edu
AF: Stanford University, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
AB: Bacterial pollution at beaches is a growing problem of increasing national concern. Currently, the EPA uses Enterococcus as one measure of water quality for recreational contact. Recent work has suggested that rather than indicating anthropogenic pollution, enterococci may be indigenous to the environment. A human-specific gene marker for Enterococcus faecium (known as esp) was recently proposed as a molecular test for bacterial contamination of human origin. The present study applied the esp gene assay to a variety of coastal environments in California and Hawaii, including groundwater, sand, freshwater creeks, estuaries, and the surf zone. Results indicate that enterococci of human origin are present in many of these environments, suggesting that at least a portion of the bacterial pollution at these sites is a result of anthropogenic inputs rather than autochthonous microbial populations.
DE: 0478 Pollution: urban, regional and global (0345, 4251)
DE: 0496 Water quality
DE: 4840 Microbiology and microbial ecology (0465)
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly