Ecotoxicology and Benthic Ecology
B.Sc. Marine Biology, Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey,
1989
M.Sc. Marine Environmental Sciences, MSRC, SUNY Stony Brook, New York,
1992
Ph.D. Coastal Oceanography, Marine Sciences Research Center, SUNY,
Stony Brook, New York, 1996
Teaching Activities
Environmental Chemistry (Graduate - ESC 748) - This course explores
various
phenomena governing the chemistry of pollutants in the water, air and
soil. Although chemistry is the focus, the chemistry of pollutants
in the environment cannot be discussed without touching upon interactions
with biology, geology and physics.
Ecology (Undergraduate - BIO 360) - The focus of this course
is to explore how organisms interact with each other and their surroundings
(the true definition of ecology). One of the main focuses of this class
is to ‘recognize’ patterns in the distribution of animals and to
understand ‘why’ these patterns exist and persist in nature.
Research Interests
Ecotoxicology; trophic transfer and bioaccumulation of contaminants;
metal bioavailability; role of metal detoxification in trophic interactions;
trace metal cycling; behavioral toxicity; benthic ecology; molecular aspects
of metal detoxification
Research Activities
The goal of my work is to link chemical and physiological interactions
within
metal contaminated aquatic ecosystems to alterations at several levels
of biological organization. Specifically, by using a mechanistic approach
to understand how aquatic organisms respond to a combination of pollutant,
environmental and biological stressors, my research focuses on determining
how methods used by aquatic macroinvertebrates to accumulate and detoxify
metal contaminants relate to metal sensitivity/tolerance and to metal trophic
transfer and toxicity to the organisms predators. As such, my research
draws on the fields of chemistry, toxicology, physiology, cellular/molecular
biology and ecology to understand the fate and effects of pollutants in
aquatic ecosystems. In my work, I try to determine which are the
key factors controlling the accumulation and detoxification of metals in
invertebrate prey and how these factors relate to metal toxicity in the
organism and how they control metal trophic transfer to predators.
Specific areas of expertise include: radio-tracer studies, cellular fractionation
(differential centrifugation and ultra-filtration), chromatography (isolation
of metal-binding proteins), behavioral toxicity studies, the selection
of metal resistance, feeding experiments, and metal accumulation and absorption
studies.
Additional information about my work can be found at:
http://members.aol.com/ecotoxwgw/page/index.htm
Publications
Wallace, W.G., et al. 1999. Alterations in prey capture and induction
of Cd-binding
metallothioneins in grass shrimp fed Cd-contaminated
prey. In Press. Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry.
Levinton, J.S., et al. 1999. Running the gauntlet: pollution, evolution
and reclamation of
an estuarine bay and its significance in understanding
population biology, toxicology
and food Web transfer. In N.M. Whitfield, ed., Aquatic
life cycles strategies, London,
Institute of Biology. In Press
Wallace, W.G., G.R. Lopez and J.S. Levinton. 1998. Cd resistance in
an oligochaete and
its Effect on cadmium trophic transfer to an omnivorous
shrimp. Marine Ecology
Progress Series. 172:225-237.
Lee, B.-G., W.G. Wallace and S.N. Luoma. 1998. Uptake and loss kinetics
of Cd, Cr and
Zn In the bivalves Potamocorbula amurensis and Macoma
balthica. Marine Ecology
Progrress Series. 175:177-189.
Wallace, W.G. and G.R. Lopez. 1997. Bioavailability of biologically
sequestered
cadmium and the implications of metal detoxification.
Marine Ecology Progress
Series. 147:149-157.
Sokol, R.A. Jr, et al. 1996. Restoration and recovery of an ecosystem
polluted by
cadmium. Journal of Undergraduate Research. 3(1):115-127.
Wallace, W.G. and G.R. Lopez. 1996. Relationship between the subcellular
cadmium
distribution of prey and cadmium trophic transfer
to a predator. Estuaries 19(4):923-
930.