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Hard Science

Mercury in a Hayward Wastewater Marsh probably doesn't threaten the wildlife that feed there, concludes a recent study. After the S.F. Regional Board raised concerns that effluent entering the marsh contained high levels of the trace metal, scientists analyzed sediment, invertebrates, fish, bird eggs and muskrat livers and found low or near background levels in all but the eggs of black-necked stilts. The stilt eggs contained more mercury than that found in three other bird species, but because of the low levels measured elsewhere in the marsh ecosystem scientists think the stilts accumulated the mercury outside the immediate area. (510)471-0577 ext. 553

Only a Tiny Percentage of Smelt Sampled in the Delta were Exotic Wasagi or hybrids, according to an analysis that used electrophoretic techniques to distinguish between the Japanese invader and Delta smelt - a threatened species. The study aimed to discover whether the wakasagi - a species abundant in California reservoirs and now creeping into the Delta - is having a significant ecological or genetic impact on its Delta lookalike. But of 231 specimens collected in 1994, researcher Peter Moyle found 93% were Delta smelt, 6% were wakasagi and 1% were hybrids between the two. Data also showed no backcrossing - mating back - between hybrids and Delta smelt. Moyle says there's thus no evidence that the Delta smelt is suffering from having a few of its Japanese relatives in town. (916)752-6355

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