Assessment of animal impacts on bacterial water quality in a South Carolina, USA tidal creek system
| Autor: | D. A. Graves, David E. Chestnut, D. A. Eargle, J. A. Gooch, Michael H. Fulton, Laura F. Webster |
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| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
Pollution
Veterinary medicine media_common.quotation_subject South Carolina Wildlife Management Monitoring Policy and Law Ribotyping Feces Rivers Water Quality Animals Animal Husbandry Ecosystem General Environmental Science media_common Hydrology General Medicine Fecal coliform Environmental science Cattle Water quality Surface runoff Water Microbiology Surface water Environmental Monitoring |
| Zdroj: | Environmental monitoring and assessment. 185(9) |
| ISSN: | 1573-2959 |
| Popis: | Fecal pollution may adversely impact water quality in coastal ecosystems. The goal of this study was to determine whether cattle were a source of fecal pollution in a South Carolina watershed. Surface water samples were collected in June 2002 and February through March 2003 in closed shellfish harvesting waters of Toogoodoo Creek in Charleston County, SC. Fecal coliform concentrations in 70 % of the water samples taken for this study exceeded shellfish harvesting water standards. Ribotyping was performed in order to identify animal sources contributing to elevated fecal coliform levels. Escherichia coli isolates (n = 253) from surface water samples were ribotyped and compared to a ribotype library developed from known sources of fecal material. Ribotypes from water samples that matched library ribotypes with 90 % maximum similarity or better were assigned to that source. Less than half of the unknown isolates (38 %) matched with library isolates. About half (53 %) of the matched ribotypes were assigned to cattle isolates and 43 % to raccoon. Ribotyping almost exclusively identified animal sources. While these results indicate that runoff from cattle farms was a likely source of fecal pollution in the watershed, wildlife also contributed. Given the small size of the library, ribotyping was moderately useful for determining the impact of adjacent cattle farms on Toogoodoo Creek. Increasing the number and diversity of the wildlife sources from the area would likely increase the usefulness of the method. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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