Zofia Baumann Ph. D. (2011) School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Stony Brook University, NY M. Sci., 2004, Department of Food Science and Fisheries, Agriculture University of Szczecin (currently Westpomeranian Technical University of Szczecin) E-mail: zbaumann@notes.cc.sunysb.edu Click here to see my CV bioaccumulation, bioavailability, radioactive cesium, elemental cycling, sediment biogeochemistry

Research Interests

I am interested in the role that marine organisms play in the cycle of chemicals that are of relevance both for ecosystem and public health. My research attempts to improve current approaches to assess environmental risk, which is often based on the levels of dissolved contaminants, ignoring potentially relevant chemical (e.g. chemical speciation) and biological processes (e.g. dietary assimilation of metals). Many elements (mercury, arsenic etc.) naturally present in the environment can become enriched due to anthropogenic activities such as agriculture or industry including power production. Those elements enter aquatic - both pelagic and benthic - food chains. Organisms can incorporate elements into their body via aqueous exposure and/or by ingestion of previously contaminated diet. In my PhD research I examined mechanisms that could influence biogeochemical transformations and bioavailability of arsenic, cadmium and chromium to deposit-feeding polychaetes, which is an essential step towards understanding the bioaccumulation.

I am currently involved in postdoctoral research with Nicholas Fisher at SoMAS where I am studying bioaccumulation of radionuclides (mainly Cs-137 and Cs-134) released by the Dai-ichi nuclear facility near Fukushima as a result of the Tsunami that had followed the earthquake on March 11, 2011. My project is a part of a larger international collaboration lead by Ken Buesseler from WHOI. The objective of my current research is to determine the concentrations of radioactive cesium in zooplankton and fish that were collected off Japan during a two-week long cruise that took place in June (http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=67796).

My past and present research employs a variety of biogeochemical methods such as sequential extraction, use of gamma-emitting radioactive tracers for pulse-chase feeding and aqueous exposure experiments. To measure gamma-radioactivity I use well sodium iodide and planar germanium (LEGe) detectors.

Publications

Baumann Z. and N.S. Fisher. 2011. Relating the sediment phase speciation of As, Cd and Cr with their bioavailability for the deposit-feeding polychaete Nereis succinea. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 30: 747-756

Baumann Z. and N.S. Fisher. 2011. Modeling metal bioaccumulation in a deposit-feeding polychaete from labile sediment fractions and from pore water. Science of the Total Environment 409: 2607-2615

N.S. Fisher and Baumann Z.. Application of radiotracer methodology for understanding geochemical fractionation and bioavailability of metals in estuarine sediments International Symposium on Isotopes in Hydrology, Marine Ecosystems, and Climate Change Studies, IAEA, Monaco (submitted)

K.O. Buesseler, S. R. Jayne, N. S. Fisher, I. I. Rypina, H. Baumann, Baumann Z., C. F. Breier, E. M. Douglass, J. George, A. M. Macdonald, H. Miyamoto, J. Nishikawa, S. M. Pike, S. Yoshida Fukushima-derived radionuclides in the ocean and biota off Japan. (submitted)

Baumann Z., Cutter G.A. and N.S. Fisher. Determining the phase speciation of sedimentary metals with radioisotopes to support metal bioavailability studies. (in preparation)

Baumann Z., Koller. A. and N.S. Fisher. Factors influencing the assimilation of arsenic in a deposit-feeding polychaete. (in preparation)