Over the years, students in my lab have investigated a variety of chemical contaminants including petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, pesticides and toxic metals. Our investigations have involved many levels of the food web including planktonic organisms, invertebrates, fish and marine mammals. We’ve worked with commercially important species such as stone crabs, mussels, hard clams, and various fish, as well as non-commercial but environmentally important species such as mangroves, sea turtles, birds, dolphins and manatees. All provide sensitive indicators of anthropogenic stress on the marine environment. While most of our work is with oil pollution, other sources such as industrial and municipal wastes contribute significant amounts of other contaminants to the oceans and estuaries. Preservation of these environments is of primary concern for the work in our laboratory.
Representative publications:
Reinhardt, S.B. and Van Vleet, E.S. 1986. Hydrocarbons of Antarctic midwater organisms. Polar Biology 6: 47-51.
Azzarello, M.Y. and Van Vleet, E.S. 1987. Marine birds and plastic pollution. Marine Ecology Progress Series 37: 295-303.
Van Vleet, E.S. and Pauly, G.G. 1987. Characterization of oil residues scraped from stranded sea turtles from the Gulf of Mexico. Caribbean Journal of Science 23: 73-83.
Sherwin, M.R., E.S. Van Vleet, V.U. Fossato and F. Dolci. 1993. Coprostanol (5ß-cholestan-3ß-ol) in lagoonal sediments and mussels of Venice, Italy. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 26:501-507.
Barre, J.S., T.M. Bert, and E.S. Van Vleet. 1994. Toxicity of the water-soluble fraction of diesel fuel to postsettlement juvenile stone crabs (Menippe mercenaria). Bulletin of Marine Science. 55:240-246.
Barre, J.S. and E.S. Van Vleet. 1994. Leaching from stone crab traps dipped in Fungitrol:diesel fuel preservative. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 53:813-819.
Ames, A. and E.S. Van Vleet. 1996. Organochlorine residues in the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 32:374-377.
Wood, C.M and E.S. Van Vleet. 1996. Copper, cadmium and zinc in liver, kidney and muscle tissues of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) stranded in Florida. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 32:886-889.
Levings, S.C., S.D. Garrity, E.S. Van Vleet and D.L. Wetzel. 1997. Sublethal injury to red mangroves two years after oiling. In, 1997 International Oil Spill Conference, Proceedings. Pp. 1040-1041.
Nasci, C., L. Da Ros, G. Campesan, E.S. Van Vleet, M. Salizzatos, L. Sperni and B. Pavoni. 1999. Clam Transplantation and Stress-Related Biomarkers as Useful Tools to Assess Water Quality in Coastal Environments. Marine Pollution Bulletin 39:1-12.
Wetzel, D.L. and E.S. Van Vleet. 2001. Comparative studies on the toxicity of dispersants and dispersed oil to marine organisms - a three-year Florida study.
2001 International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings. March 26-29, 2001. Tampa, Florida.
Wetzel, D.L. and E.S. Van Vleet. 2003. Accumulation and Distribution of Petroleum Hydrocarbons Found in Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) in the Canals of Venice, Italy. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 48:927-936
