{"id":16575,"date":"2022-06-21T13:30:14","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T17:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=16575"},"modified":"2024-08-20T11:36:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T15:36:40","slug":"the-effects-of-antibiotics-on-urban-stream-ecology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/the-effects-of-antibiotics-on-urban-stream-ecology\/","title":{"rendered":"Stream Science: The Effects of Antibiotics on Urban Stream Ecology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Some emerging contaminants in wastewater might not pose immediate ecological dangers, according to new research from Austin Gray, a biologist at Virginia Tech and a former joint fellow with North Carolina Sea Grant and the NC Water Resources Research Institute. His study focused on the potential impacts of three common antibiotics on urban streams in Piedmont North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIncreases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, nutrient pollution, habitat destruction, and biodiversity loss are drivers of global change and get a lot of attention and resources to understand their impact,\u201d says Gray. \u201cRarely do we see emerging contaminants incorporated into these studies, even though their presence is ubiquitous in global water supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Urban wastewater exposes organisms in streams to low levels of pharmaceuticals, Gray explains. These emerging pollutants are widespread, hard to remove, and carry unknown ecological consequences when they interact with other pollutants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n