We received nominations for 23 high quality publications in consideration of a best paper award. These publications spanned multiple disciplines and each provides noteworthy contributions to our knowledge of toxic substances. With great difficulty, the reviewers ultimately selected four contributions that provide both novel insights and relevance to current and emerging needs.

Lead poisoning is a major problem for the endangered California condor population. Photo: Dave Monley, Ventana Wildlife Society

1. Molly Church, Roberto Gwiazda, Robert Risebrough, Kelly Sorenson, C. Page Chamberlain, Sean Farry, William Heinrich, Bruce Rideout, and Donald Smith, Ammunition is the Principal Source of Lead Accumulated by California Condors Re-Introduced to the Wild, Environmental Science & Technology 40:6143 (2006)
   
   This study, led by UC Santa Cruz environmental toxicologists, used analyses of lead isotopes to confirm that bullet fragments and shotgun pellets in the carcasses of animals killed by hunters are the principal sources of lead poisoning in California condors that have been reintroduced to the wild.


2. Collin Eagles-Smith, Thomas Suchanek, Arthur Colwell, Norman Anderson, and Peter Moyle, Changes in Fish Diets and Mercury Bioaccumulation in Clear Lake, California: Effects of an Invasive Planktivorous Fish, Ecological Applications, Ecological Society of America (in press)
   
   These UC Davis researchers have shown how the presence of an invasive species can interact with ecosystems to alter the fate of mercury within a food web. This work is particularly germane to California where both mercury pollution and non-native species invasion are ongoing threats to ecosystems.


3. John Lincoln, Oladele Ogunseitan, Andrew Shapiro, and Jean-Daniel Saphores, Leaching Assessments of Hazardous Materials in Cellular Telephones, Environmental Science & Technology 41:2572 (2007)
   
   This is one of a series of publications by a team of researchers from UC Irvine who are identifying potential hazards posed by electronic products throughout their life cycles. The results detailed in this publication describe a rigorous evaluation of methods that are used to assess the leaching potential of metals and organic compounds from cell phones.


4. Lin Wang, Janet Arey, and Roger Atkinson
   (1) Reactions of Chlorine Atoms with a Series of Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Environmental Science & Technology 39:5302 (2005)
   (2) Kinetics and Products of Photolysis and Reaction with OH Radicals of a Series of Aromatic Carbonyl Compounds Environmental Science & Technology 40:5465 (2006)
   (3) Dicarbonyl Products of the OH Radical-Initiated Reactions of Naphthalene and the C1- and C2-Alkylnaphthalenes, Environmental Science & Technology 41:2803 (2007)
   
   This award is made on the basis of three articles, lead by a former graduate student at UC Riverside, that detail the atmospheric reactions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient atmospheres. Collectively, this research provides significant insight into gas-phase atmospheric chemistry of compounds that are present in urban atmospheres.




Table of Contents    Next Article