US Geological Survey Grant: Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Rivers CESU

Environmental chemicals can induce a variety of adverse effects via disruption of normal endocrine function in eukaryotic organisms. These chemically-induced effects are not only observed as immediate organismal responses, but also as a variety of diseases in subsequent generations in organisms not directly exposed to the chemicals. A transgenerational phenotype is an abnormal health outcome which develops in an organism without direct chemical exposure, but rather because prior generations were exposed to a chemical. The transgenerational phenotype has been observed in many organisms, including humans and plants. A variety of diseases in offspring three generations later and a variety of environmental toxicants (plastics, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, dioxin, and hydrocarbons) have been shown to promote epigenetic transgenerational disease phenotypes in laboratory rats. However, there are limited reports showing such transgenerational effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in fish and wildlife.