New England Association of Environmental Biologists annual meeting
Date Published
2014/03
Conference Location
Burlington VT
Abstract
Escherichia coli are commonly found in stream water. High concentrations of E. coli have economic
consequences due to beach closings and human health concerns. Questions revolve around which
warm-blooded animals are the sources of these E. coli and whether these sources are related to land
use practices. Nineteen stream sites from ten tributaries of the Lamoille River, VT, have been sampled
for E. coli in mid-June from 2008 to 2013. Genetic barcodes (or fingerprints) of the E. coli collected from
streams were generated by Ribotyping, which is an automated RFLP analysis that targets the rRNA-
coding region of the bacterial genome. This research is ongoing. We will report on trends in the relative
abundance of sources of E. coli (Cow, Fisher, Goose, Human, Otter, and E. coli associated with multiple
sources) as they relate to total catchment size and proportion of forested, impervious, and agricultural
land uses.