Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Welcome and introduction: Chairman Gan opened the meeting and acknowledged the efforts of Chris Pritsos and Glenn Miller in hosting the meeting held at the Granlibakken Conference Center and Lodge, Lake Tahoe. Hosts Chris Pritsos, Glenn Miller together with Ron Pardini welcomed the group. Administrative Advisor, Ron Pardini then provided a brief overview of USDA budget concerns and NIFA leadership changes. Pardini commented that once again, the USDA is looking at significant budget reductions with NIFA competitive grants program taking a 30-40 million hit. To avoid further grant reductions Pardini expressed the need to take better advantage of social media for reporting impacts. Dr. Lemley asked on how formula-based funding could be affected. Pardini responded by stating new funding will be competitive grant based but formula funds will have solid support. Pardini also announced to the group that Dr. Roger Beachy stepped down as Director of NIFA effective May 20 of this year. Dr. Pardini provided a detailed PowerPoint presentation of how at UNR the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources (CABNR) sustained a serious budget cut that caused the loss of administrators, faculty and staff. As a direct result of these cuts, the departments of Animal Biotechnology and Resource Economics were eliminated leaving the departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES) and Nutrition within CABNR. Although there were painful reductions in faculty, a new department of Agriculture, Nutrition and Veterinary Science (ANVS; with Dr. Pritsos as Chair) and three new undergraduate programs were created. The newly proposed majors include: Agricultural Science, Range Ecology and Management, and Forestry Management and Ecology. Pardini indicated that forging interdepartmental, inter-collegiate and multi-state partnerships will be essential in building resources and effectively carrying out the Land Grant mission and education into the future. Report review and critique: The group presented and critiqued technical reports. Old and new business: The report review and critique was completed at 4:30 pm on 6/6. Chair Gan requested to continue the meeting to conduct old/new business, elect officers, and discuss location of the 2012 W-2045 meeting. All members concurred. Old Business: There was no old business discussed. New Business: Committee officers: Chair Gan brought up the need to nominate/elect the secretary for the 2012 W-2045 committee. Dr. Lemley nominated Vince Hebert with Dr. Armbrust seconding. Dr. Rice will be assuming Chair responsibilities. Next meeting: Potential sites for next years meeting were discussed with Montana being forwarded by various members as a potential location for the June 3-5 2012 W-2045 meeting. Since Dr. Sterling could not be present, Chair Gan will contact Dr. Sterling. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 pm, June 6, 2011. Respectfully submitted, Vince Hebert for Pam Rice W-2045 Secretary

Objective 1: Identify, develop, and/or validate trace residue analytical methods, immunological procedures, and biomarkers. Residential urban and agricultural pest management produce potential unintended, and even unavoidable chemical exposures, that can increasingly be measured and related to acceptable levels of risk determined by advanced risk characterization methodologies. Pesticides used for flea and tick control on companion animals are also used in crop protection and are therefore subject to aggregate exposure and risk assessment. Use of fipronil topical pet products on dogs and cats introduces low level residues into residences. Scientists from University of California - Riverside performed distribution and fate studies of fipronil on pets and in residences to evaluate potential determinants of human exposure. Fipronil and desulfinyl fipronil, fipronil sulfone and fipronil sulfide were measured on hair clippings and brushed hair. The derivatives usually represented <10% of fipronil applied. Cotton gloves worn over impervious nitrile gloves, cotton cloths placed indoors in locations frequented by pets, and cotton socks worn by residents as direct dosimeters collected fipronil and its derivatives above in low amounts during 4 week study periods. Urine biomonitoring following acid hydrolysis or beta-glucuronidase treatment did not reveal significant excretion of biomarkers at ppb levels. The human exposure potential of fipronil is low relative to levels of health concern. The impacts of oil released into the Gulf of Mexico from the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon on April 22nd, 2010 were assessed on seafood collected from the Mississippi gulf coast. Scientists from the Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory (MSCL) have been providing expedited analysis on seafood samples in an ongoing concerted effort with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Approximately 379 samples of fish, crabs, shrimp and oysters were collected and analyzed for PAH content from May, 2010 to January, 2011. Although PAHs were detected in every sample collected, no sample contained residues exceeding Levels of Concern (LOC) under the Protocol for Reopening state and federal waters for recreational and commercial fishing following the oil spill. Levels detected in oysters were similar to those detected in oysters collected and analyzed by NOAA prior to the oil spill and were also similar to levels measured in common processed and commercial foods purchased at local grocery stores and restaurants. These data are currently being used by the state of Mississippi, FDA and NOAA to communicate that 1) the most dangerous chemicals known in oil were not found at levels in seafood to cause harm 2) that levels found in seafood were similar to those in samples collected before the oil spill and that commonly are found in samples collected nationally and that 3) these are not new and novel toxic chemicals and are the same chemicals to which the public is exposed everyday in the foods they eat. Objective 2: Characterize abiotic and biotic reaction mechanisms, transformation rates, and fate in agricultural and natural ecosystems. The Salton Sea is the largest man-made lake in California and the terminal destination of agricultural drainage water from a vast agricultural production area. Planned mitigation and management practices are expected to cause the receding of water level and making the Sea even more inhabitable for fish and wildlife. Species conservation habitats (SCHs) are proposed to be built in exposed playas and sustained with water from the drainage rivers. To select sites for constructing such SCH ponds, it is critical to know the spatial distribution of legacy pesticides and other contaminants in the sediment. Scientists from University of California  Riverside participated in a project supported by California Department of Water resources (DWR) to survey pesticide distribution in areas around the mouth of Alamo River and New River. Results show that DDE was the predominant legacy pesticide contaminant and its distribution was concentrated the river mouth, where about 25% of the sediment samples exceeded the probable effect level (31.3 ¼g/kg) established for total DDE. The levels of DDE also displayed an inverse vertical pattern, with the lower layer containing higher levels, reflecting historical use and deposition. Areas away from the river mouths were generally less contaminated with DDE and other organochlorine pesticides. This information will be useful for successful implementation of SCHs to restore the ecosystem benefits of the Salton Sea. Current monitoring data and modeling efforts are inadequate to conduct a robust evaluation of the potential risks to aquatic life associated with pesticide use practices. In formulating risk management strategies, EPA and others address uncertainty by using models driven by conservative assumptions regarding pesticide use and environmental fate. While this approach to dealing with uncertainty in risk assessment is deemed appropriate by many in formulating policies that restrict pesticide use, such an approach may have limited usefulness in informing stakeholders in need of decision aids to guide the selection of practices that meet both production and environmental protection goals. To address this scientists from Oregon State University  Corvallis are using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to engage local agencies and producers to develop a better understanding of the relationship between agronomic and other land use practices and pesticide surface water loading in Zollner Creek watershed. Expected outcomes are the adoption of crop management, IPM practices, and mitigation measures that meet production goals and result in a reduction in surface water loading of high risk pesticides. Volatilization of fumigants and other pesticides is an important consideration for determining loss from treated fields. Scientists from the University of Nevada  Reno developed a relatively simple method for estimating loss of fumigants that requires only simple parameters for estimating volatilization. These include soil adsorption coefficients, depth of application, water solubility and vapor pressure. Emission rates derived from the linear correlation were used as input to an atmospheric dispersion model to estimate concentrations of fumigants in air at various downwind distances and the results were compared with concentration values measured in the field near sources. The fumigant correlation along with an atmospheric dispersion model can be used as a rapid screening method by regulatory and enforcement agencies for exposure and risk assessment. Pollution of water and soil in the environment by toxic organic pollutants such as pesticides has become a widespread concern for water quality and as a source of serious hazards for humans and other living species. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been investigated as successful methods to remediate environmental pollutants in water, and Fenton treatment has been extensively applied to degrade environmental pollutants. Fenton and modified Fenton reactions use a metal catalyst to generate hydroxyl radicals from hydrogen peroxide with various methods being used to deliver the catalyst into the reaction system. Fenton reactions using nano-magnetite as the iron source is being studied as a viable Fenton remediation method. When the reactions take place on the surface of the mineral, it can often be done at ambient pH. The kinetics of these processes must be understood to provide the basis for field applications. Scientists from Cornell University have reported the successful removal of 4,6-dinitro-o-cresol (DNOC) using nano-magnetite (Fe3O4) as the iron source and cathodic Fenton generation of hydrogen peroxide. The effects of different DNOC initial concentrations, pH values and nano-magnetite quantities on the degradation rate of DNOC were also examined. The results showed that a lower DNOC initial concentration and a lower pH led to faster degradation of DNOC. It was also observed that the amount of nano-magnetite affected the degradation rate at lower pH while having no influence at neutral pH. The combination of nano-magnetite and cathodic Fenton provides a fast way to degrade organic contaminants with readily available materials. Furthermore, magnetite is more stable, reusable and easy to separate compared to ferrous salt and other iron rich minerals. Objective 3: Determine adverse impacts from agrochemical exposure to cells, organisms, and ecosystems. The impact of non-lethal agrochemical/environmental exposures on non-target avian species is difficult to assess, particularly in terms of developing Natural Resource Damage Assessments (NRDA). Scientists at the University of Nevada - Reno have developed the homing pigeon model to study these exposures in avian species. Birds were exposed to control or methylmercury containing water and flight time was monitored. Following experimental flights, tissues were collected to assess mercury concentrations. Increases in time of flight, tissue mercury concentrations, and tissue/body weight ratios were seen as a result of methylmercury exposure. Water consumption was also monitored throughout a series of experiments in order to gain knowledge as to the drinking behavior of these birds on flight and non-flight days and better understand rates of consumption necessary for NRDA development. Significant differences were observed based on flight activity. These data suggest migrational impairment from ingestion of water from a contaminated area is a very reasonable scenario, and water consumption rates used in determining migratory bird exposure to contaminants in their drinking water for the purposes of developing NRDAs need to take into account flight status. Objective 4: Develop technologies that mitigate adverse human and environmental impacts. The EPA Office of Pesticide Programs (Agency) is basing its recent metam sodium (MS) fumigant risk mitigation decision on a flexible approach which is protective to bystanders and allows growers to make site-specific fumigant application method choices. A 10% field set-back distance credit is being considered by the Agency for MS applications conducted at or below 70oF when measured at a soil depth of 3 inches for all surface and soil incorporation fumigant application practices. In the Pacific Northwest (PNW) field fumigations occur during the cooler late fall-early spring months, often at and below 60oF. A question raised by the PNW potato commodity groups/commisions was should field fumigations conducted at 60oF or less be given greater buffer zone credit relief? Scientists from Washington State University  TriCities simulated a series of worst-case pre-plant potato surface applied chemigation conditions to investigate the influence of soil temperature on methylisothiocyanate (MITC) off gassing. The series of six incremental temperature flux examinations (2, 4, 7, 13, 21, and 32oC) showed conversion time of MS to MITC and subsequent MITC peak flux and cumulative surface emissions were associated with soil temperature. The MITC soil column emission data also indicates large scale surface sprinkler head and center pivot fumigations conducted at traditional (40 GPA) and higher fumigant application rates can result in appreciable surface cumulative MITC field losses within days of surface application irrespective of varying soil temperature conditions. Further reduction consideration in field set-back distance will be economically beneficial but could adversely impact air quality and bystander public health. Understanding the influence of soil temperature on MITC off-gassing will be especially important where fumigated field edges exist near dwellings, near or at residential/commerce interfaces, or in close proximity to difficult to evacuate locations. The muck soils of the north shore of Lake Apopka, near Orlando, Florida, USA are ideally suited for agriculture; hence, these soils have been exposed to a wide variety of agrochemicals. These muck soils are high in organic matter, inorganic nutrients, and water content. Some of the more recalcitrant organochlorine pesticides, such as DDT and its degradation products DDD and DDE, have persisted in this soil for over three decades. Scientists from the University of Florida  Gainesville are investigating in situ bioremediation of DDx (DDE, DDD, and DDT) at Lake Apopkas North Shore Restoration Area (NSRA) following the typical design of starting small and working towards larger pilot tests. Previously, a series of microcosm experiments using approximately 100 grams of soil were conducted to identify potential treatments and microorganisms that could degrade DDx. These preliminary optimization results using small bench scale tests were used to design and implement larger mesocosm experiments that used 128.5 kilograms of contaminated muck soil. These experiments investigated various bioremediation strategies involving white rot fungi. The ultimate aim is the economical bioremediation of 9,300 hectares of contaminated soil, thus allowing the state-acquired land to be developed for the public good.