ARS | Publication request: Fate and transport of manure-borne microorganisms

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: December 22, 2010
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: This lecture presents the overview of the recent research results on the environmental microbial fate and transport in the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory. The overview of experimental sites in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and laboratory setups will be given. The emphasis on environmental reservoirs of pathogen and indicator organisms will be substantiated. First, I will present experimental and modeling studies of the effect of bottom sediments release on the microbial water quality in streams, lakes, and ponds. The complementary laboratory studies will be also discussed that show the effect of sediment composition and environmental factors on microorganism survival in sediments. Second, I will present experimental and modeling studies of the overland transport of manure borne microorganisms with runoff. The uncertainty in modeling results will be discussed that is caused by the spatial variability of microbial concentrations in manure. Third, I will present experimental and modeling studies of the vegetated buffer strips with the emphasis on the need and possibility of estimating uncertainty in the strip efficiency and setting margins of safety based on the risk assessment. Needs for research developments in understanding ecology of zoonotic microorganisms in variety of environmental media and accumulating databases related to survival of those microorganisms will be discussed and illustrated.