Contaminant Exposure and Effects--Terrestrial Vertebrates
(CEE-TV) Database
Version 3.3, August 2003
The Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) program is designed to assess and monitor the effects of environmental contaminants on biological resources, particularly those under the stewardship of the Department of the Interior. BEST examines contaminant issues at national, regional, and local scales, and uses field monitoring techniques and information assessment tools tailored to each scale. As part of this program, the threat of contaminants and other anthropogenic activities to terrestrial vertebrates residing in or near to coastal estuarine ecosystems is being evaluated by data synthesis and field activities. One of the objectives of this project is to create a database of contaminant exposure and effects for terrestrial vertebrates residing in Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific, Alaskan, and Hawaiian coastal regions.
For these regions, the "Contaminant Exposure and Effects--Terrestrial Vertebrates" database (CEE-TV) has been compiled through computerized search of published literature, review of existing databases, and solicitation of unpublished reports from conservation agencies, private groups, and universities. Summary information in the database includes species, collection date, site coordinates, estuary name, hydrologic unit catalog code, sample matrix, contaminant concentrations, biomarker and bioindicator responses, and reference source. Currently, the CEE-TV database contains approximately 11,000 records containing ecotoxicological exposure and effects information on over 200,000 individuals representing over 400 species of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals residing in estuaries. The database has a number of potential applications including focusing biomonitoring efforts to generate critically needed ecotoxicological data in the numerous "gaps" along the coast, reducing uncertainty about contaminant risk, identifying areas for mitigation, restoration or special management, and ranking ecological conditions of estuaries.
The database can be easily queried using taxonomic, chronologic, geographic, and contaminant search categories.
