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Population and physiological effects of industrial metal contamination on wild fish (Impacts)

Objectives being Investigated
The overall objective of this project is to understand the extent of metabolic impairment and the factors influencing growth, reproductive fitness and physiological condition in wild fish inhabiting metal-contaminated lakes. This information will ultimately contribute to the development of field-relevant biomonitoring tools for metals ERA. The specific objectives of this proposal are: (i) to identify and characterize population-level metal effects in wild yellow perch (YP; Perca flavescens) and other forage fish inhabiting industrially-contaminated lakes around Sudbury, ON; (ii) to increase our understanding of direct effects (i.e. toxic metabolic effects) vs. indirect effects (i.e. food web disturbances, investigated by C3 in the same lakes) of environmental metal contamination on wild fish condition, growth and metabolic performance; and (iii) to assess the ionic composition and metal contamination of natural YP diets, and to determine if they relate to effects identified in (ii) as suggested by work already completed by MITE project C2 and by the PI.

Study/Sampling Design
Research in 2002 will be conducted exclusively in lakes and on fish from the Sudbury-North Bay areas. There are two main sampling efforts. The first examined reproductive fitness in adult yellow perch during spawning (April-May) and was conducted in three lakes varying in metal contamination (Ramsey, Whitson and Kelly). The second sampling effort is conducted immediately after spawning and before the growth season, in May-June, and again late in the growth season (August) in five lakes. These comprise 2 reference lakes and 3 lakes varying in metal concentrations but containing at least one species of fish (which in Sudbury will be yellow perch). For the May-June as well as for the August sampling, at least 120 yellow perch are captured from each of the five lakes and returned to the laboratory for dissection. The use of gill nets, minnow traps, small-mesh seine net and angling in each lake allows capturing the widest size range of yellow perch. Each yellow perch is returned alive to the lab and immediately photographed for truss networks analysis and dissected. Samples (liver, muscle, kidneys, stomach contents, opercular bones) are kept at appropriate temperatures for use in the other projects. Every other fish captured during sampling is identified to the species and released after recording the information. After sample collection, yellow perch are aged and the samples are allocated to the various projects. One project will investigate longevity and indicators of recruitment in yellow perch populations as well as growth rate from age and size data, and diversity from sampling data. Another project will examine liver and muscle aerobic capacities (using citrate synthase and cytochrome C oxidase) and anaerobic capacities (using lactate dehydrogenase) for each age class of yellow perch (5 fish per age class when possible). Aerobic and anaerobic capacities will be related to dietary metal concentrations (from stomach contents) as well as to ontogenetic dietary shifts (measured by C3). Stomach contents will be analyzed for Ca and Na concentrations to assess if wild fish preferentially choose diets high in either Ca or Na as a possible means to mitigate metal toxicity. A truss networks analysis will be conducted on digitally photographed fish, where line segment lengths connecting a number superficial landmarks will be used to characterize fish shape, which is related to fish condition. Metal contamination in each of the study sites will be characterized from three perspectives: Water, sediments, and stomach contents.

Location of Field Site(s)
Lakes in the Sudbury, Ontario area:
Crowley (46° 23' N, 80° 59' W), Geneva (46° 45' N, 81° 33' W), Hannah (46° 27' N, 81° 03' W), Kelly (46° 27' N, 81° 04' W), Kusk (46° 19’ N, 81° 20’ W), Ramsey (46° 28' N, 80° 58' W), Whitson (46° 35' N, 81° 01' W)
Lakes in the North Bay area:
James (46° 17' N, 78° 59' W).

Biota Studied

Species
Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) Any other fish species collected (for identification only)

Metals, etc. Quantified
Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn, Se, Na, Ca: total tissue metals (liver, muscle, kidney, stomach contents)

Biological Endpoint(s)
Liver and muscle aerobic capacities (using citrate synthase and cytochrome C oxidase) and anaerobic capacities (using lactate dehydrogenase); liver and muscle total protein concentrations. Fork length, weight, gut tube length, gender, scaling coefficients, age, condition factor, hepatosomatic index, ecomorphometric condition (truss analysis)

Physical Material(s) Studied

Medium/Media
Lake water Lake sediment - surficial (oxic) sediments

Metals, etc. Quantified
Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn, Se, Na, Ca In water samples, temperature, pH, alkalinity, hardness, total suspended solids, conductivity, DOC, turbidit

Bibliographic References on-file with Secretariat: No

Data Available: No

Data Archived with MITHE-SN: No

Collaborators