Labs To Test For Fish Sex Change

June 9, 2009

Release from: Clare Peddie
Adelaide Now (Australia)

Scientists will use new $6 million CSIRO labs at Urrbrae to establish whether traces of drugs in our waterways are changing the gender of fish.

Teams of researchers in the overhauled Taylor Building, opened today, will also study how best to store carbon in soils, monitor the Coorong and Lower Lakes, analyse minerals and ore samples, and support soil microbes that are essential for healthy crops.

The building, named after the first chief of the division of soils, J.K. Taylor, was constructed in 1960.

Principal research scientist and program leader Dr Andrew Herczeg said the building was virtually "gutted" to make way for new offices and state-of-the-art laboratories for staff and students from three divisions of the CSIRO: Land and Water, Entomology, and Minerals. "All that was left were the pillars and external walls," he said.

Dr Herczeg said the facilities were upgraded to such an extent that staff would now "look forward to coming to work in an environment that facilitates what they need to do".

Research scientist Dr Anu Kumar said she wanted to see what would happen when native fish were exposed to effluent from waste water treatment plants, which contains residues of drugs and personal care products that interfere with hormones.

Her new laboratory is equipped with the tools she needs to find out whether males start turning into females, as has been observed overseas.