The Elizabeth River Story: A Case Study in Evolutionary Toxicology.
Abstract
The Elizabeth River system is an estuary in southeastern Virginia, surrounded by the
towns of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach. The river has played
important roles in U.S. history and has been the location of various military and
industrial activities. These activities have been the source of chemical contamination
in this aquatic system. Important industries, until the 1990s, included wood treatment
plants that used creosote, an oil-derived product that is rich in polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAH). These plants left a legacy of PAH pollution in the river, and
in particular Atlantic Wood Industries is a designated Superfund site now undergoing
remediation. Numerous studies examined the distribution of PAH in the river and impacts
on resident fauna. This review focuses on how a small estuarine fish with a limited
home range, Fundulus heteroclitus (Atlantic killifish or mummichog), has responded
to this pollution. While in certain areas of the river this species has clearly been
impacted, as evidenced by elevated rates of liver cancer, some subpopulations, notably
the one associated with the Atlantic Wood Industries site, displayed a remarkable
ability to resist the marked effects PAH have on the embryonic development of fish.
This review provides evidence of how pollutants have acted as evolutionary agents,
causing changes in ecosystems potentially lasting longer than the pollutants themselves.
Mechanisms underlying this evolved resistance, as well as mechanisms underlying the
effects of PAH on embryonic development, are also described. The review concludes
with a description of ongoing and promising efforts to restore this historic American
river.
Type
Journal articleSubject
AnimalsBiological Evolution
Conservation of Natural Resources
Embryo, Nonmammalian
Fundulidae
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Rivers
Virginia
Water Pollutants, Chemical
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12418Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1080/15320383.2015.1074841Publication Info
Di Giulio, Richard T; & Clark, Bryan W (2015). The Elizabeth River Story: A Case Study in Evolutionary Toxicology. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev, 18(6). pp. 259-298. 10.1080/15320383.2015.1074841. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12418.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Richard T. Di Giulio
Sally Kleberg Distinguished Professor of Environmental Toxicology
Dr. Di Giulio serves as Director of Duke University's Integrated Toxicology Program
and the Superfund Basic Research Center.
Dr. Di Giulio's research is concerned with basic studies of mechanisms of contaminant
metabolism, adaptation and toxicity, and with the development of mechanistically-based
indices of exposure and toxicity that can be employed in biomonitoring. The long term
goals of this research are to bridge the gap between mechanistic toxicological research
and the development of usef

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